Sisterhood

The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

—Proverbs 4:7

When I was in high school, a woman named Ann took me out for coffee and shared books with me—Tozer and Chesterton and Lewis. She let me ask her anything and held my secrets close, and she showed me what it looked like to be an adult. In college, a camp director named Diane walked with me and hugged me tight and showed me what it looked like to be an adult. In my twenties, a woman named Nancy met me for breakfast and let me babysit her kids and brought me magazines and ice cream when I was sick and showed me what it looked like to be an adult. Now, in my thirties, Pam and September and Maria and Christine give sage advice and snuggle my kids and show me what it looks like to be an adult.

At every step along the way, women I look up to have given their time and wisdom to me just when I’ve needed it. They’ve showed me what’s ahead and how to get there. I’ve needed every bit of the wisdom and direction, and now I’m honored to give it, too, knowing that that’s how it works, how this important sisterhood continues—coffee and storytelling and passing on the things that someone taught you all those years ago.