My Sister's Shoes

My Christmas gift from my younger sister, Rachel, came a few days late ... but she told me it was worth the wait ... it was. Her package arrived on New Years Eve and I quietly opened it while my husband was upstairs with our toddler. I opened the shipping box ... inside was a shoe box. I lifted the top of the shoe box and found a poem ...

My Sister's Shoes

Full of character,
People, places and things they see.
Take a picture
So you can share it with me,
All the places you go
Where I may not, cannot be.

When she's not here,
The sites, the food fights, the laughs,
Her shoes keep me company,
She's here in a size 5 1/2.

Under the poem were a handful of snapshots of my sister wearing the shoes that were now laying carefully packed in the shoebox I just opened. Teary eyed, I shuffled through the pictures of the places she'd been in the shoes and read the captions she had handwritten on the back.

So here we are. I live in Europe, my sister lives in the United States, but through these shoes we can continue our walk through life together. I have visions of us, old and grey ... sitting by a fireplace ... sipping cocoa ... reminiscing about where our shoes took us on our journey through life.

Here are "My Sister's Shoes" ...

and this is the start of our journey together ...



Rachel and her husband went to Charleston SC on Dec 12, 2009. Overlooking the Charleston Harbor, Fort Sumter stood across the Battery.



Stopping in for a coffee and danish.



In Washington DC, Dec 19 2009 they sat awhile and watched the snow out the window. They weren't expecting the snow storm ... a beautiful surprise.

Where will I journey in these shoes ....