I come from a family of ten; eight kids, two parents and more pets throughout the years than I can count or even remember. These pets include but are not limited to a cat named Heidi (who it turned out was a male cat, even though the vet swore he was a she), an exploding hamster, a tragically fated chick that thought I was its mother (until our dog got a hankering for chicken wings and ate it), a guinea pig that was best friends with the transgender cat, a shopping dog (for real she would slip her collar and go wandering around all the shops downtown. The shop owners more than once brought her back to us once she maxed out the credit card;)....the list goes on and on. Yeah, we had a really full and crazy life.
I am the oldest of all the siblings, this of course meant I had all kinds of fun bossing the rest of the underlings (ummm I mean sweet, wonderful siblings of mine) around. I was the twisted sister who wrote and directed plays. My brothers and sisters were the unwilling stars of said productions. They were masterpieces, I'm sure you'll be hearing of one on Broadway soon (didn't I mention I made them all sing too?;) My idea of a good time, was pretending to be their teacher and forcing them to do actual school work. I had tons of fun and they were better educated for my effort (patting myself on the back). Then, there was the time my sister, Jennifer, cracked her head open on our door jam while dancing. My siblings love to tell how I "comforted" them by reading them everything Encyclopedia Britannica had to say about head injuries. What can I say, I was just awesome that way.
My parents were more than a bit crunchy when I was little. They made their own tofu, we did the all natural thing way before it was popular, we were home schooled for a while and my mom birthed the first five of us at home ( yeah majorly granola, loveyoumeanit Mom and Dad). I especially remember the birth of my brother Joe because I was there for it.
Joe was a beautiful baby, with great big brown eyes and straight, blond hair. From birth on, Joe had all the ladies wrapped around his little finger;) Joe is the fourth child in our little family of eight but he is the oldest boy. That's right, my parents were smart and had all three girls straight off the bat. Joe made an excellent living doll for us;) However, Joe wasn't having any of that! He put in an order for some more brothers,ASAP! And boy did he get his wish, four more boys, one by one, entered our world (and I wouldn't trade a single one of them).
Joe, like the rest of us, is all grown up now. He has grown into a man of character, faith and integrity He married his high school sweetheart, Stephanie, who is the perfect wife for him. I love her to death :) They have three beautiful babies of their own: Elijah, Abigail and Asher. Today my brother Joe is graduating from the MD State Police Academy. I am so very proud of him for his accomplishment but I am more proud of him and Stephanie for their journey to get here. It wasn't easy and they both made big sacrifices, and that is only the part that I know. I am sure there is more that I don't know about. Yet, they held on to the dream, their faith and each other and made it through.
I can't be there in person to hug them and wish them the very best in this next phase of their lives, so I am doing the next best thing. Congratulations Joe and Stephanie!!!
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