Partners for Life

This picture is what my parents would have looked like surrounded by their 13 children.  The only difference would have been that in my family there are 9 girls and 4 boys.  Even though my oldest sibling is a boy we always state "9 girls" first.  Hit people with the sucker punch.

I love my brothers and sisters very much.  In my family the oldest and thrid oldest children are boys and the youngest and third youngest are boys.  Aren't they lucky to be surrounded by all those girls.  I think so, because my brothers are well loved.  Let me play the name and number game.

Harry Camille = one son.
Kathleen (Kathy) Jean = one son and two daughters.
Dwain Larry Bruce = four sons.
Suzanne (Suzie) Cecille Antoinette = two daughters.
Monique (Mickey) Desiree = three sons and one daughter.
Camille Francois = two sons and one daughter.
Jacqueline (Jacquie) Bernadette Opal = two sons and one daughter.
Renee Gabrielle = two daughters and one son.
Colette Michelle Therese = one son and one daughter.
Loretta (Lori) Jean = no children.
Gerard-Michael (Gerry) = two sons and one daughter.
Rochelle (Shelly) Marie = one daughter and two sons.
Joseph (Joey) Paul = two sons and two daughters.

So the number is 13 children have 35 children.  If we each had 13 children like our parents the number of children would have been 166.  

The people we marry come later in our lives and our parents will at some point have to leave us. So our siblings may be the only people we'll ever know who truly are our partners for life.

In our family we have lots of love.  The great part of a family our size too is that if someone is fighting with someone else, the other siblings tend to help them sort things out and make-up.  Of course, having to crawl into the same bed at the end of the day with the person you were fighting with helps too.  

We also have a lot of skeletons hanging in our family closet. My own closet is relatively empty and it is certainly not up to me to discuss what anyone else has in their closet.  But having said this, I also want to say that we support each other and we try to make sure that no one gets eaten by the wolves.

I have been dealing with a crisis for over two years and I can tell you that every member of my family (with the exception of a younger sister who has cut herself off from the family completely) has stood by me in some way or other.  They are here for me to help keep the wolves at bay.

My sisters are my best friends as well as my best friend Heidi.  (Heidi, believe me you are something to squeeze into that mix.)  I love and am loved by my siblings and I am grateful.

I am also so in love with the 35 children I mentioned earlier.  My neices and nephews.

I have 11 partners for life and I consider myself very very lucky in that regard.  I often wonder how people (my own children included) can sleep in a bed by themselves.  It was so cozy sleeping with two sisters on each side of me and even sometimes having another two sleep at the foot of the bed.  Mind you, they might think Mickey, me and Shelly were at the foot of the bed but they would be wrong.  Right Mickey and Shelly.

I love my childhood but even more than that I love my partners for life.