Our Family

What can I say about family? You can't pick them like you can pick your friends. They can make you so mad at times that you just want to move far, far away... Family also know every single stupid, silly, embarrassing thing you have ever done in your whole life and can not wait to bring it up at the most inopportune moment. BUT...they're your family. Your roots, where you come from.
Being the youngest of 3 is very hard...contrary to what my older sister and brother may say. They say I was spoiled. Spoiled isn't the word I would use. I would just say that Mom & Dad loved me more :)  I think my sister and I shared a bed until I was 5....yes...I peed the bed too...Terri LOVES to remind me of it...We shared a bedroom until I was 14. That is when Terri got married and moved out. I couldn't wait to have a bedroom all  to myself. Guess what? I was lonely and I missed her like crazy. BUT I got to have sleepovers at her house and at her house I could do things that I couldn't do at home.
Then there is my brother....ahhhhh my brother..... Jimmy did the all of the normal big brother things. He tried to get me to eat a spider (dead of course), tried drowning me in the swimming pool every chance he could, ended actions or sentences with, "Don't tell Mom or Dad or you'll get it worse." Something happened, he moved out and finally accepted me as his little sister and we would hang out together. And now that my dad isn't with us anymore, I see my brother in a different light. I watch him, I listen to him and I can see my dad in him.
Of course growing up I had the fear of Jim and Maureen instilled in me. I'm almost 45, my dad is gone, my mom is 72 and I still have that fear instilled in me. I thank them for it. My mom and dad did the best they could with what they had. Growing up wasn't always a garden full of roses, but with the thorns, we learned to appreciate the beauty of the rose. We may not have had the best clothes, the newest this or that, but we had love. We were taught lessons, we were taught to respect and we were taught to help one another. Oh and the saying, "My mom and dad are going to kill me." well....they don't, they never do. I'm still alive and let's just say I tried them in many, many ways.

And in the end, they are my family. I wouldn't change a single thing about them. I would go to the ends of the earth for them.

I love them with all of my heart and soul.