"My cousin and her husband raved about the beautiful Priory on the hill."

The suggestion of being a sister was first made to me in the eighth grade. It happened this way.

As one of the sisters walked across the alley between the convent and the school, a gust of wind caught her veil and blew it off. My friends and I were horrified because up to that time we had only seen her face and hands. She quickly replaced her veil and said to me, "Don't be embarrassed; someday you might be a sister." Inside I said, "No! For sure, no!"

Early in high school I remember commenting to my companions in the school lunch line that I knew that the Church needed priests and sisters to carry out her work. I'd be anything; except a sister and a teacher. Little did I know then that eventually I would do both of those things in my lifetime.

Being a sister began to be a career option for me at the end of my junior year in high school when several women in the class ahead of me chose to enter the Presentation community in Aberdeen, SD.

For a year, I toyed with the idea of joining a religious community. I didn't want to join the Ursulines, my first teachers, because they were too strict. The Dominicans who were teaching me in high school came from the west coast where it "always" rains. I couldn't stand that! Finally, I decided to come to the Benedictines in Bismarck sort of on the recommendation of my cousin and her husband who raved about "the beautiful Priory on the hill." They had also given the sisters the first 25 acres of land on this site. Being a sister seemed to be what I should do with my life, yet I minded leaving Montana, my home, and my family.

As these 35 plus years have gone by, there have been points when I know in a new, deeper way that being a sister is my calling.