Think of all the cheesy “sisterhood” merchandise you’ve seen over the years. For me, those soft-focus greeting cards and laser-etched picture frames never quite ring true.

Here’s what does resonate, though: Spending an afternoon with two great friends who just happen to be relatives.

My sister R is in town this week. So this afternoon she, I, and my baby sis L met up. We started with the Cirque du Soleil (wow!), followed by dinner at Cossetta’s. I smiled pretty much the whole time.

It struck me during the drive home that somehow we’ve managed to part with our petty childhood resentments and rivalries. We’ve come to see each other as allies and individuals.

My sisters and I don’t always share the same views, but that’s OK. We share a history—and we understand that our experience of that history was different for each of us. Maybe that’s why we grew up to be such different people who have so much common ground.

Tonight the writer sat across from the tenured professor and the devoted mom, and we reveled in friendship and bad jokes and shared laughs. That’s worth more than any cheesy, soft-focus card.