My sister answered the phone cheerily today.  We needed to talk about how to load a computer program onto our mother’s computer. 

But first my sister chatted away about the flowers blooming in her yard… a specific color of coral she was looking for set off some chairs she had set out… the way the creek was glistening in the background… the color green on the lawn…

I never, ever talk to my sister this calmly during a weekday morning.  Never.  She is typically out the door, driving to her job, by 6:15 or 6:30 AM.  OK, sometimes we’ll grab a moment while she’s driving.  But the hour time difference means that when she is in the car, I’m getting kids out the door. Matter of fact, It’s rare to catch her at all during the workday.  If I really need to find her, it’s a quick conversation, nothing more. 

But today, she is furloughed for a week.  In her case, it’s going towards her vacation time, so it’s not all bad. This would not have been her choice of dates.  Still, it’s a wonderful time of year to spend a few days off, with long daylight hours and warmer temperatures to enjoy.

I am quite happy that she chose to spend a little bit of that time to converse with her sister.   That’s my silver lining for today.