100 (Almost) Posts and Counting

We at the Sisterhood of the Travelling Shoes like to think of ourselves as a well oiled machine – organized and smooth running. But we all know that every machine has a breakdown from time to time and the Sisterhood is no exception – thus the “Almost ” in the title. You see, in my enthusiasm to celebrate reaching the 100 post milestone I somehow miscounted and it turns out that as of today we are at 93 posts…

Being the flexible group that we are and determined not to lose sight of the fact that 93 posts is an accomplishment worth celebrating too, it seemed a good time to look back on the past two years of officially being bloggers.

So bring on the Three Sisters wine and cake – the Sisterhood is celebrating!!! Cheers to 93 posts!

Just Do It

Those of you who follow our blog will remember Big and Little Sis describe that they finally gave in and said they would do the blog because they couldn’t listen to me whining about it anymore. I prefer to think of it as persistent persuasion, but the fact of the matter is, it was actually a teensy weensy fib that we told to a bartender in San Francisco that actually got them on board.

I admit, as enthusiastic as I was, I had no idea what was involved in doing a blog, I just thought it sounded like a fun thing to do. We muddled through getting the basics set up and fortunately our IT angel Crispin patiently held our hands and managed not to laugh at any of our silly questions. And so, after many months of backing and forthing, gnashing of teeth and sleepless nights, on March 23, 2020 we published our first blog post and the rest, as they say, is history.

The Road Is Long

With COVID appearing at almost the same time as our first blog post, and along with it travel and gathering restrictions, our original plan for the blog had to be revisited. WhatsApp would now be our mode of doing business and what we wrote about would be a little different than we had originally imagined. No 5k races or Sisterhood travels to tell you about. A temporary detour in our plans or so we thought….

The Sisterhood is nothing if not adaptable and so we very quickly fell into a routine of Saturday morning WhatsApp calls to plan our posts and work out logistics. As stay at home orders and social distancing continued these calls took on another role too. They were an anchor that kept us connected through all the ups and downs of COVID and gave us the chance to hold each other up as we navigated a road where no one knew what was coming next. Little did we know it would be over two years without any in person contact.

When we started, we set an ambitious goal of doing a new post each week and so far we have been able to meet this goal. All three sisters take a turn at writing and sometimes all three of us have a lot to say on a particular topic and so will all chime in.

Brainstorming new topics can sometimes be a challenge but just when we think we’ve run out of ideas it’s Biscuit to the rescue!

As we’ve become more efficient with our blog, the calls have branched out into other important topics, such as comparing blood pressure medications, listening to Middle Sis talk about the trials and tribulations of feeding a vegan husband and lately, counselling Little Sis on navigating her new supervisory position. After all who can you trust to give you the best advice but your sisters?

Who’s The Boss?

As we carried on blogging, another interesting thing happened. Without anyone officially assigning anything we each found a role that fit.

Big Sis is our editor and detail person. She is our grammar and punctuation aficionado and she can spot where a paragraph break should be from 50 paces. She routinely rescues me from the wordy, run on sentences I seem to like. Big Sis also sets an example of being ready for when we can actually do a 5k race again by working out with her trainer three times a week.

Little Sis is the creative one – her creative brain goes so fast she sometimes misses words when she is typing. The wild state of her hair is usually an indication that she is in creative mode (or just slept until the last possible moment before joining the call). She is really good at doing videos and is also responsible for bringing Biscuit, our honorary canine member, into the Sisterhood.

As for me, I look after posting to our Instagram account @bettywouldlovethat. This was another steep learning curve but I am slowly but surely getting the hang of it. One thing we have learned is that pictures of Biscuit seem to garner a lot of “likes”. We are trying not to be offended that she seems to be more appealing than we three sisters.

I also seem to have adopted a uniform for our calls – my nightgown and housecoat. Big and Little Sis are starting to question if I actually do get dressed at any point in the day.

Anybody Out There?

From the beginning we wondered if anyone would be interested in reading our blog. That wasn’t our main motivation for doing it, we just hoped people would enjoy reading our stories as much as we enjoyed telling them.

Of course we sent out the obligatory email announcing the launch of our blog to family and friends and got very positive comments about our first posts. We don’t really know exactly how many people read our blog regularly but we do appreciate everyone who takes the time to read and comment. We do know we have five official followers and Auntie Lana our faithful reader and commenter. She posts a positive encouraging comment after every post and for that we thank her.

Back On Track

With COVID restrictions easing, it looks like the Sisterhood will be able to get together in person for the first time since its inception. It should be fun and I’m sure will involve a glass or two of wine and lots of laughter. I’m even planning on getting dressed for the occasion!

The first order of business will be reaffirming our motto “We’ll Never See These People Again” and ensuring that our playlist still reflects the Sisterhood’s musical ethos and of course that we are following our own guidelines.

I think I am going to suggest that we consider adding “Together Again” and “Reunited” to our playlist so that we always remember this time when we weren’t able to see each other in person.

One of the things I’m sure we’ll talk about is where we go from here. We’ve investigated the possibility of making a book out of all our posts as a legacy piece for our families (whether they want it or not…😆). I think we will do this, we just have to figure out all the intricacies of Amazon publishing first. Don’t worry we’ll be taking orders for advance copies in the near future.

And as for the blog… I think as long as we continue to have fun and have stories to tell, we will carry on. And who knows perhaps we will branch out into a podcast.

Betty WOULD Love That

Our mom Betty has been an inspiration for this blog right from the beginning. We try always to emulate her joyful, fun-loving approach in our lives and in what we write.

If she were still with us I think she would be amazed at what we have created and so happy to see her daughters spending time together laughing, having fun and keeping her close in our hearts and memory.

We usually publish a new posts every Monday but with the Sisterhood getting together in person this weekend we’re not sure what will happen. Stay tuned…