The Whole Fam Damily

I talk a lot about my kids and grand kids and occasionally about my parents but seldom about my brother and sisters. Today I am introducing you to my Siblings. I would not classify us as a normal family (after all Normal is just a word) growing up, my dad drove semi and was gone a lot so my mom was the main stay of the home but there was a lot of love and laughter and tradition in our lives.

The oldest and only boy-Marvin or Mick- Your typical older brother growing up. Always thought he could tell us what to do and always snitching on me to Mom and Dad. Especially once I started dating! He would tell mom and dad that the boy I was trying to date was no good and they shouldn't let me see him. Of course they believed Mick and I was forbidden to date the boy. He also snitched when he caught me smoking which lead to my dad making me smoke a HUGE cigar in it's entirety. If I didn't turn green and puke my guts out I could then smoke cigarettes. I won and smoked for 30 some years (not sure that was such a victory- have been smoke free for 9 years now). Mick had some really cool cars and pick up trucks that he drove fast like all teenage boys and had his share of wrecks. He also had his share of Hunky friends that I "Crushed" on. He married and had 9 children and is now the semi driver that is gone for long periods of time. We have a good relationship.

Next is Natalie- Nickname Kat- She is 13 months older than I and we used to fight BIG time when we were younger! I remember scratching and hitting and hair pulling. Do I remember why? No. It probably didn't matter at the time, she could look at me the wrong way and I would scream for Mom just to get her in trouble. Natalie was the child that if she didn't learn how to do something then she never had to do it. For instance after we moved to the farm, she didn't learn how to run the milking machines so all she had to do was feed the cows and dump milk. I had to do the milking which wasn't the cleanest job in the world. She wasn't too dumb huh? She's the instigator in the family and you have to watch out for her. One minute she'll be standing there talking to you and the next minute you could be wearing cake or ice cream or have a hot dog shoved in your face just for fun. More than one food fight has ensued when our family is all together thanks to Natalie. Natalie is married, has one daughter and two grandsons. We live a couple hours form each other and share the love of shopping so we get together a couple times a year to do a Mother/Daughter Shopping Trip. I really enjoy spending time with her when we do these trips.

Five years after me came Lisa-better known to us as Scooby- Growing up I don't remember a lot of real closeness with Lisa because she was younger than me. When I was in Junior High she was in elementary school and when I was graduating High School she was just entering Junior High. We didn't have a lot in common. I loved her( most of the time) she was my sister but she was playing with dolls while I was playing with boys. I do remember sewing clothes for her. Then she grew up and got married, moved away and had 2 beautiful girls of her own( the smart one and the pretty one). Lisa helped me through one of the toughest points in my life-my divorce. She was my confidant, my BFF and my safe haven when I needed somewhere to run to. I spent many weekends at her place and many hours on the phone with her during this time. I don't think I could have made it through that period without her. We've had our moments (what sisters haven't) but I know she's there if I need her.

And last but by no means least- Paula- or Frog as she is affectionately called. This is our New years Eve baby. I was a senior in high school when mom got pregnant and I was embarrassed to think my parents still had sex let alone that they were going to have a BABY!! YEW! Needless to say once she was born we all thought she was so damn cute we spoiled the shit out of her and that's why she is the way she is today. Independent and used to getting her own way. I had a baby about 1 1/2 after Paula was born so my daughter and my sister were actually closer than my sister and I were for many years (after all they were closer in age). In fact when Paula would ask me something I used to tell her to go ask Grandma instead of Mom- it was hard to think of my mom being her mom too. Not until after Paula grew up, got married and had kids of her own did I start to relate more to her as my sister and not my child. It was hard though. We have a good relationship now but she and my daughter are still closer since they are closer in age.
These are my Siblings- all a little quirky, but all mine. We don't always see eye to eye and we may fight once in a while but we all love each other. They say you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family. I don't know- I kinda like mine- quirks and all, don't know that I'd pick any thing differently. Well maybe I'd make me prettier than the rest of them.