Guest Post: the Sisters McGregor

The Tale of “the Sisters McGregor”

Merrill and Christie McGregor on Phantom Canyon

We’ve often been referred to as “the Sisters McGregor”. We work in the same professional field, share the same friends and are both avid outdoorswomen. Although we’re 10 years apart, we both have distinct memories of fishing off our grandparents dock in Charleston, camping with our parents and siblings in KY and WI, or hiking with friends across the southeast. 

We’re also pretty inseparable – living together off and on for over 10 years –or at least we were until Christie, the older/wiser one, decided to up and move from South Carolina to Washington DC for a new job (note: the younger sister, Merrill,  is NOT bitter and is DEFINITELY not harboring any resentment against her older sister who left her to fend for herself in the deep South because she decided “an amazing professional opportunity” was more important than the opportunity to hang out with her incredibly awesome little sister every day) .    

When you live eight hours apart from your best friend you have to make the most of the time you spend together, which is usually limited to birthdays and holidays because life gets busy.  In these situations, it’s typical for friends or siblings to buy each other “experiences” that provide them with the opportunity spend time together:  a few hours at a spa, a meal at a favorite restaurant, a weekend out of town, a ticket to see a concert.  And for many years, our gifts were no different. We both knew what the other wanted (or needed) at that point in time and tried to make each gift special.

This all changed after Christie took a trip to Montana and learned to flyfish.  Being the great big sister that she is, she came home from the trip, told Merrill about her new favorite hobby and proceeded to buy her a fly rod for Christmas, so that she would have a default flyfishing buddy for life.  And it worked.

Flyfishing has given us both the peace of mind we often need and has provided us with the opportunity to spend hours together—either standing in or near a river. And we don’t have to share the time with anyone else. We can pack a picnic, a thermos of coffee (or something stronger) and place bets on who gets to call our dad and brother to brag about catching the first fish, all while rubbing it in their faces that the women of the family are on a  fishing trip and they are not. And they should be jealous.

Christie teaches Merrill to fish

There’s truly no substitute for spending all morning patiently trying to master the perfect cast, waiting for those moments when you know you got it right and will land the most beautiful trout you thought you’d ever see. (Note: there are also those moments when your sister inevitably proceeds to pull in a bigger, more beautiful trout right after you, crushing your newly inflated fly fishing ego…but you just keep on fishing because you know competition is good for the soul.)

Long story short, it has completely changed our perception of “the perfect gift”. The good ole “bait n switch”. Now our gifts have progressed from jewelry, photos and random hiking gear to fly rods, fishing gloves and maps for our next trip.  Instead of spending time talking to a hotel concierge about the local watering hole, we’re asking the folks at the nearest fly shop about their favorite watering hole. 

Last year we celebrated Merrill’s birthday fly fishing in North Carolina and then we celebrated the July 4^th week with a fishing trip to Rocky Mountain NP and TNC’s Phantom Canyon Preserve.   Our trips often have extreme weather conditions–hail, snow, below freezing temps or plus 90s in a canyon; hiking that pushes us past our limits; and less fish than we would ultimately like.  However, we wouldn’t change it if we could. Because we are the Sisters McGregor. And it makes us better friends and stronger women.

Christie McGregor is the Director of Federal Legislative Campaigns for The Nature Conservancy. She is currently located in Washington, DC.  Merrill McGregor is the Director of Government Relations for the Coastal Conservation League in Columbia, South Carolina.  They are currently planning their next “big trip” to celebrate their 40^th and 30^th birthdays.