Sisters

When people find out I'm one of so many girls the reaction is often the same - "Your poor Dad, surrounded by all those women!" - which I generally refute by pointing out that he never had to lift a finger; from his boots being polished to having eleventy billion cups of tea made for him per day.

Poor me more like! Can you imagine the cattiness of that household?! From stolen belongings, blackmail, Chinese burns, blackmail, fighting over bedrooms, practical jokes, mental warfare, hand-me- down clothes, an abundance of PMT and not forgetting blackmail - it was a perilous environment to say the least.

To my older siblings I was a source of slave labour and amusement - a tradition passed down to each generation. In fairness to my eldest sister Emma, she was a surrogate mum to me for periods - but the terror she rained down on the others I could not even put into print - Girls are evil!
There were times when I was young that if someone had offered me £50 on the street for my little sister I would have strongly considered it, such was the extent of our rivalry, and I know my older sister Ali felt exactly the same about me when I was trailing round after her.

But do you know what happens when you get older?  You realise that they are the people with whom you have the most shared memories. You can grieve and celebrate with them for things lost and gained that other people would never understand - and they have crap loads of embarrassing stories about you so you need to keep them on side.
These gals become your best friends.
Even though your fashion tastes and lifestyles may have diverged dramatically, they have your back through relationships gone sour, house moves with no notice, crying phone calls at all hours of the day. They become your drinking buddies, your most avid social media followers and the faces you want to see when good stuff happens.

Even those you don't see as often as you'd like; you know that when shit truly hits the fan they'll be at your side, helping bury the dead body.

The top picture is a tattoo my baby sister (former nemesis) and I got recently to commemorate each other, and to celebrate all the crap we've helped each other through when times were bad; the laughs we've had when times were good and all the swings we've swung on, drunk and sober!

The next picture is me with my beautiful sisters - every one of them strong and amazing queens in their own way.

Love you girls. xxxxxx

Holly x