Tag: big families

Hoppin’

I had my first child when I was age 25 and we kept on going, every two years or so, until we had our four children. A big family keeps you hoppin’. Many times over the years people would comment on how many loads of laundry we must do, how filled our pantry must be, how many times we must have to run the dishwasher, etc. etc. I would smile, and nod, and laugh, and say the same panned responses, again and again, but honestly, it was just my way of life. I didn’t really know anything different for most of my adult life. Yes, raising four kids was a lot. It was chaotic at times. But it was also full of fun, and adventure, and laughter, and excitement, and a menagerie of pets, to boot. It was our family’s way of life.

For the last half of the year, my husband and I have been true empty nesters. And it has been quiet, and orderly, and comfortably predictable, and we run the dishwasher maybe once a week. Our dirty laundry never piles up and there are rooms in the house that go unused and stay tidy. However, for this past week, all four kids have been home for the holidays. And I now completely understand the contrast, and why people would always comment on how many times we must go to the grocery store (this past week, it’s often been more than once a day), and how many times we must run the dishwasher (this past week, it’s been at least once a day). And I have come to realize now, that both ways of living life have their upsides (and their downsides). I see the merits in both ways of living. In the end, I mostly just feel truly privileged to get to experience and appreciate both ways of life.

“Storms draw something out of us that calm seas don’t.” ~ Bill Hybels

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Categories

The “mids” (my middle two children) are about to head back to their university, to start their spring semester. They go to the same college. I also sometimes call them “the Jan Bradys”. They don’t like that nickname, especially since they are guys. When you have a large family, you tend to break the kids down into subsets. My eldest two sons are redheads (now more commonly known as “gingers”). So, fittingly, I call them “the Reds” and thus, the youngest two children are “the Browns”. (they don’t particularly like that nickname because we are Steelers fans). Our eldest son, a tall, gregarious redhead is often called “Big Red.” And with the eldest three kids being male, and my youngest being our only daughter, we have “the boys and the Princess.” I usually call the dogs, “the fur babies” or “the poopies”. Categories just make life simpler. Ask any librarian.

“In life, the categories we belong to can change very easily and can change so very easily that we in fact belong to every single category! We are hunter, we are victim; we are master, we are slave; we are rich, we are poor; we are lock, we are key! We belong to every category!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

Fortune for today: Dwell in possibility. – Emily Dickinson

This Is Us

My husband’s colleague texted him from another state. He and his family are staying with their extended family this week for Christmas. He said that the house is crazy and chaotic, full of kids and dogs. He told my husband that it must be like living with our family.

We started having kids less than two years after we were married. We had four children in the span of eight years and we’ve always had at least two dogs and other pets, in the mix, throughout the years. This past fall has been strange and surreal, with it being just my husband, myself and my daughter at home, with the two fur babies, who are at least, out of their puppy stage (sort of) .

The three of us have become accustomed to a fair amount of “quiet”, only having to go to the grocery store once a week, laundry always being clean and hung up, and jugs of milk actually going sour before we drank/used it all. I better understand now, why people have always said to me, “I don’t know how you do/did it.” With the college boys home the last week or so, and the grown son coming home tonight, the quiet moments are sparse, the grocery runs are daily, the stinky laundry is piling up at a monumental rate and we’ve run out of milk more than once, already. We are all whizzing around in different directions and it is hard to keep up with everyone’s comings and goings, as hard as I try. The dogs have seemed to pick up on this whirling energy and they are behaving like two furry toddlers, way too hopped up on sugar. It is chaotic. It is crazy. And it is love. It is us. This is us. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.