Family

For those of you who don't know, I have a VERY LARGE family. I know people with bigger families. Not very many though. I am the 10th of 13 kids. Yes, same mom, same dad, no twins, triplets, etc. And my mom didn't even have a miscarriage until after the last of us was born. 20 years from the oldest to the youngest. Yup. I have some crazy parents. :P

I picked up one of my old journals today and spotted an entry from Sunday, Sept 27, 2009. I wrote that my sister was pregnant. Knowing that I am not a perfect journal writer, I realized whoever was reading it would have no idea what was going on in my family really, so I decided to explain my family. I decided the easiest way to describe my family was to diagram it out with stick figures. It took almost 2 of my journal pages. Of course, I included the essential details of where everyone lived, who lived in what house, etc. It was a pretty extensive drawing. I even had a key to explain what things meant. I then wrote a synopsis of the chart "I have 7 married siblings (the oldest 7), 12 nieces and nephews with another on it's way".

I'm pretty sure it would take 2 full journal pages to draw today. Here's a short synopsis of my family today: My mom is dead. My grandpa lives with my dad. I have 8 married siblings, I'm married, and one brother is engaged. I have 14 nieces and nephews, with two on the way. (That's not counting my other family--my husbands. His family is MUCH smaller! :P)

I don't even know how many times I've been asked what it's like having a big family. Today, I will answer the question. AMAZING!!!! Don't get me wrong, things have not always been rosy. You ever want to know the down side of having a big family, I can fill you in. However, my big family is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

Having a big family is like having a circle of friends where no matter what you do, you can't ever get rid of them. Sometimes we fought. Sometimes we didn't get along. But it was an unwritten rule in the family: We could make fun of each other, but no one else better make fun of one of our siblings! We did a lot of mean things to each other, but we also did a lot of really nice things for each other. My oldest brother helped one of my sisters get a dress for a dance because she couldn't afford it (and heaven knows my parents couldn't!!). I've seen piggy banks spilled to help a sibling go to a chess tournament. My brothers let me sneak into their room at night, even though I was probably the annoying little sister. (I 3 brothers just older than me, and all I wanted was for them to let me hang out with them!) We would all stay up late in the summer and wait until our parents had gone to bed and then played games. Of course as soon as my mom heard us, she'd send my dad to get us to bed. We'd either hide, or feign sleep where ever we were. My dad had almost never heard the noise himself and would rarely succeed in getting us back to bed. No one tattled on another in those games. It was all of us against the parents (poor parents!). Tattling was for the daytime. ;)

Now that most of us are adults, it's even better. I'm no longer the little girl (though some of my older siblings probably have a hard time realizing it). I'm married, an adult like them, dealing with the same challenges they are. We can talk about things, give each other advice and comfort, call each other randomly, etc. When we get together, there are always conversations going on late into the night. We still get in fights periodically. We don't always agree. But we love each other and disagreements are made up. People forgive. We all move on. We're family. That's just what we do. And we still do really nice things for each other.

One of my little brothers flew to another state last semester to help babysit another brother's kids while he finished his doctorate. I've given free massages, and I'm sure I'll give more. I've been sent home with groceries, clothes, and other household items from several of my siblings houses--I know I'm not the only one who has. I've seen siblings rearrange schedules to help another sibling out for a day (or more) so often that it seems like the normal thing to do. Doesn't everyone change their schedule if they can to help family? (Since my boss was surprised one time I did it, I assume not). If someone needs something, we pitch in as a family and make it happen.

We all have very unique personalities and skills. If I have any sort of problem, I don't have just one sibling I can turn to. I'm not even limited to 2 siblings! I have 12 of them plus their spouses. If I want help with cooking, I call one sisters. If I need advice about financial stuff, I have a couple of brothers I can call. Music? Another list of siblings. Laundry? that's my sister that worked at a dry cleaners. Etc. Anything law related? my brother in law. We joke we only need a doctor (we have a dentist in the family), and a lawyer and we could run our own small town (though hopefully if only we lived in it we wouldn't need a police officer or lawyer...). We would even have our own basketball team.

While I will never have 13 kids, I couldn't be more grateful for my family. I am who I am today because my crazy mom and dad had 13 kids and raised us to love, serve, and help each other.

Thanks Dad. Happy father's day tomorrow! I'll see if I can't come up with some cheesy poem for you by then. :D

Thanks Mom. Happy birthday Wednesday! I will eat ice cream for you. ;) I wish you could be eating it with me though!