Much of what I learned about life was not taught in formal classrooms but rather, was garnered in the collectiveness of women conversations. My earliest life lessons were cultivated in the company of mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, daughters, cousins, teachers, and neighborhood friends who dropped trinkets of wisdom across dining room  tables,  across summer clothes lines, while  sitting on the front porch sipping sweet tea, while laughing with each other at the beauty salon,  while breaking bread together at the church potluck, and while conversing with each other in beautifully decorated living rooms that were off limits until "company" arrived.   

 

Wisdom arrived in ordinary moments while dishes were washed, beans were snapped,  corn was shucked, coffee was poured, and floors were swept. My life lessons marinated across lunch tables,  at book stores, in prayer circles, and at the  wooden, roll top desk while doing homework. Teachable moments arrived, and still do,  in the conversational spaces where women gather, conversate, and share their life experiences.

 

Whether in the quietude of softness or in the  loud roar of a lioness, these "sister" voices became, and still are sacred lessons in the classroom of life where truth is spoken, flaws are  revealed, and understanding quietly takes root in caves of women experiences learned and lived.

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In the company of women life unfolds in its most genuine and beautiful form.  It is a sacred, spiritual journey of sisterhood, built not on perfection, but on the journey itself. It is where laughter rises freely and tears fall without apology. It is where stories are told not only to remember, but to teach, heal, and remind us that we are beautifully flawed, and that no woman walks this journey alone. 

 

In the company of women we laugh, cry, learn, help, enlighten, take courage. grow, and  gain strength.  Each time women gather to conversate, they bring their own individual, colorful patch to the quilt of sisterhood, where  wisdom multiplies, strength deepens, and hope is renewed.​ For in the company of women, we do not simply exist — we evolve!