Chosen Sisters 💫
Some people enter your life by blood.
Others enter by timing, chaos, sarcasm, and a shared ability to laugh at things you probably shouldn’t.
This is about the women who became my sisters not because they had to, but because they chose to. Through distance. Through silence. Through the seasons where survival came first and texting back felt impossible. These are the friendships that don’t disappear when life gets loud. They wait. They understand. And when you reconnect, it’s like no time passed at all… minus a few more aches and a much earlier bedtime. 😅
These are my chosen sisters. I am blessed that they've chosen me in return.
♑ Brittany — My Mirror 🪞💖
Florida wasn’t the escape.
It was the becoming.
I was twenty-three, bold, impulsive, and just reckless enough to pack up an SUV and drive two days south with no plan beyond “we’ll figure it out.” When life immediately fell apart. No apartment would be ready for 2 weeks, no safety net, no help. I did what I’ve always done: adapted.
That’s how I found Mojo’s. 🍗🍔🍻💚
Changed clothes in the parking lot. Walked in confident. Got hired on the spot.
And that’s where I met Britt, giving me the kind of stank-eye only a hot, territorial bartender in her early twenties can give. We did not like each other. At all. Competition vibes were strong. 😆
Until the night the bar exploded.
Packed inside. Outside bar drowning. No help coming. And without thinking, I jumped behind the bar and started pouring drafts like my life depended on it. I couldn’t mix a drink to save my soul... But I could sling beer fast. Brittany and I moved like we’d worked together for years. No words. Just instinct.
That night flipped everything.
She taught me how to bartend. We became inseparable. Scheduled together. Known around town. Rocking bike nights, bikini contests, car shows, live bands. Basically living our best Florida bartender lives. Beach days. Shopping trips. Inside jokes no one else understood. Sarcasm as a second language. Loyalty without conditions.
We even discovered we shared the same birthday. Same year. Same day. January 17, 1985. Birthday twins.
Cue the “okay that’s weird… but also amazing” moment. ✨
Brittany is strong, independent, intelligent, beautiful, kind, and endlessly giving. She gives more than she gets, especially to the people closest to her. There were too many times in my life when she gave me far more than I was capable of giving back, not because I didn’t want to, but because I simply didn’t have it in me yet. She never made me feel small for that. That’s just who she is.
She brings out my strength. She reflects the version of me that knows exactly who she is and doesn’t apologize for it. Even now, across 1,500 miles, she knows me — the real me. And somehow, she always will.
Kayla — My Anchor 🩷💜⚓♊
Kayla and I almost fought the day we met. Tends to be a common theme here. 😄
Seriously. It was headed that way.
We were both strong. Stubborn. Loud in our own ways. She was serving. I was bartending. The tension was real, until we realized we weren’t enemies. We were mirrors.
I taught her to bartend. We became inseparable. For two solid years we lived in rhythm. Early-morning gym sessions, long shifts, errands, ice cream runs with her daughter, movie nights, everyday life stacked back-to-back.
Kayla was a mother long before I ever thought I’d be one. Watching her raise her daughter planted something in me before I even realized it. Still to this day, I look up to her, and I tell her that. I still watch how she handles hard moments, how she shows up for her girls, how she carries love even when it’s heavy. She is an incredible mother. Always has been.
She is strong, smart, emotionally and mentally aware, and deeply reflective. In so many ways, we are wired the same; our emotions, our thought patterns, our need to understand why we feel the way we do. Where she still struggles sometimes is learning how to quiet the doubt that tries to overshadow all the things she is. She’s working on that, just as I have.
Our conversations confuse people. If someone listened in, they’d think we interrupt each other constantly or aren’t listening at all. But that’s never been true. We relate by sharing. One of us starts a story, the other mirrors it, then it circles back — not to steal the spotlight, but to say I see you, I get it, you’re not alone.
We’ve had wild nights too, bar fights over pool table quarters, temporary bans, zero regrets.
And quieter ones — sitting in her car, blasting Miranda Lambert, singing terribly, laughing harder, solving the world’s problems and none at all.
Kayla is my rock. My shoulder. My inappropriate-joke safe space. My human. My soulmate in friendship form. She’s not going anywhere — and honestly, she knows better. 😌
The Thread That Connects Them
When I look at the three of us separately, it makes sense why each of them found their way into my life.
I see the same strength in both of them. The kind you only recognize when you carry it yourself.
We’re long-wick people, all of us. Patient. Calm. Able to take more than most people ever see. But when that wick finally burns out, it’s done. The quiet simmer turns into a hurricane, a tornado, and a tidal wave all at once.
We’re loud when it matters. Strong when it’s required. Open-minded. Unapologetically honest. We say what we think. We love deeply. We protect fiercely. We are compassionate mothers and women who have lived through real things.
Our upbringings were different. Our traumas didn’t look the same. But trauma has a way of circling back to familiar lessons, and instead of letting it harden us, we grew. We’re still growing. Still learning how to live good lives, build peace where there was chaos, and choose better every day.
Strong women don’t come from easy stories, and all three of us are proof of that.
What Chosen Means
Chosen sisters don’t need constant contact.
They need honesty, loyalty, and love that doesn’t flinch.
They survive silence. Distance. Life imploding. They pick up exactly where you left off — because the bond isn’t fragile. It’s forged.
Brittany reflects who I am when I’m bold.
Kayla grounds who I am when I’m breaking.
And I am endlessly grateful for both.
Some friendships fade.
Chosen sisters don’t.
They wait. 💫
Dedication
This is for the two women who never gave up on me — who saw my flaws clearly and loved me anyway.
Kayla showed me what true motherhood looks like long before I ever became a mother myself. That example shaped me in ways I didn’t understand at the time, and it remains one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received.
Brittany helped me become myself. Not by changing me, but by showing me how to stand confidently in who I already was. She taught me how to trust my voice, hold my ground, and move through life without shrinking to keep others comfortable.
I carry it with me always.
You both loved me through seasons when I couldn’t fully show up, and that kind of love is rare. I love you both to the moon and back.
I am grateful everyday that you are both in my life. ❤
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