In Good Company

Centerville, Texas

"We live in different states, but we all get together at a midpoint between Dallas and Houston," Taryon Bowman says. "Most recently, we celebrated my first anniversary of surviving a brain tumor. We'll meet anywhere we won't get thrown out for laughing so loudly."

From left: Taryon; her sister Sharon Swayzer; her mother, Hilda Shepherd; and sisters Gina Cain and Jennifer Burch.