Written by Growing up, I got a lot of the classic “younger sister” treatment, which basically means that my older sister Lindy barely tolerated me most of the time and picked on me the rest. We were only 1 year and 16 days apart, but we may as well have lived on totally different planets. And it only got worse when we got together with our cousins Tonya and Shelly.
Lindy and Shelly were practically the same age, Tonya just a few years older. And whenever we gathered for a holiday or family vacation with the cousins, they would always run off like the Three Amigos, while I tagged along behind. They still laugh about the Easter they all woke up early and hunted all the eggs before I even woke up, or the time Tonya and Shelly came to visit us in Bird City and they talked me into putting on an old black cat Halloween costume and then painted my face with some of Mom’s old lipstick and blue eye shadow. And there are dozens of photos from our summers at Grandma and Grandpa’s cabin at Johnson Lake with the three of them huddled together and smiling brightly at the camera, their blonde hair shining in the sun, while I stood off to the side, my brown hair and skin making me look more than just a little out of place.
When I was 22, I reunited with my birthfamily, and overnight, I went from being just the youngest of 2 children to being the oldest of 7 (or 11 if you want to count my step-siblings). So now, I sit in 2nd place in my big blended family of 13 children.
I double-dog-dare any of those birth order theorists to take me on as a case study.
These days my family is…well…unique is probably the best way to describe it, and I have to say, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
My poor hubby though. He married a girl that gave him three sets of in-laws.
Now that we have Henry in our lives, Stevie and I are both waiting to see how the relationship develops between our children. Right now, they’re pretty much fascinated with each other. Our guess is that will start to wear off right around the time Henry is mobile enough to start messing with Cadence’s stuff. Until then, they’re just adorable together.
And when Cadence bounced down the stairs this morning and saw what Cosette had done with Leo, I thought I might have caught a little glimpse of the wheels starting to turn.
Any bets on how long it will be before Cadence tries to gift wrap Henry?
Lori Romano 