Siblings…

continuing this blog thing at http://katieslifejourney.blogspot.com which I found at http://www.pinklemonadeblog.blogspot.com/

I have two sisters.  They are close in age, but I came along a few years (7) later.  That meant that my teen years were largely spent as an only child.  My sister Nancy lives about 3 hours away, but I have figured that for most of our lives she has lived several thousand miles away in one way or another.  She has two boys, who have grown up incredibly fast.  She works for a major (ahem great commercials….”Wee Wee Wee….” all the way home) insurance company, and I think she works too much.  I’m sure we’ll see each other over the holidays.  We’ll probably play Monopoly, she loves games.  Her favorite color is orange, and so is her favorite flavor.  I think that is funny.  She adores her kids, and is very proud of her recent high school graduate.  Her younger is a buddy of mine, and we spent a lot of time together this summer going to the lake, watching bad TV, having “lazy days” where we didn’t get dressed or make beds until 5 o’clock or so when my husband was due home.  It was great.  Her big boy is like his mom and works works works.  I hope he is able to get his license and a car soon.

My sister Jane is in a word, BOSS.  She is living large (she’s not) and in charge.  What she says, GOES.  It’s kind of always been that way with her.  She can command a large group of people and everyone does what they are supposed to do.  (WELL, most of us).   She is the hostess when we are all in vicinity and her house is always welcoming, clean, and has plenty of good food.  This year she grew a ton of food in her garden.  She is a lot like our mom, but different, too.  I think her leadership comes from my dad – a Commander. (Ret., US Navy).  Jane has 5 kids, all grown.  Four boys, who have been the most challenging boys in the Universe to raise.  One daughter, who was easy peasy to raise.  Hmmmmm.  Why was my ONE daughter so hard?  I think Jane has had more than her share of crap fall out of the sky on her life.  I am hopefull that with her 3rd grandchild will come more peaceful times.  It’s a boy!

I guess I will devote a line or two to in-law siblings.  I’ve had two.  Both of my husbands have been the older brother in a family of two boys.  My ex-brother-in-law was actually a decent dude in some ways.  He is definitely a mama’s boy and still lives in the apartment downstairs from his mother – with his wife and all.  He was arrogant and weird, and I am glad I don’t have to interact with him anymore.   My current brother-in-law, Scott’s brother, was a good friend of ours until recently.  He’s made some bad choices and put his brother in a bad situation, and therefore we are taking a break from him.  He lives in Texas and I’ve never even met two of his three kids, so the relationship has never been there.   I have two other ex-brother-in-laws, but they don’t merit any of my blogging space or time.  I have one other brother-in-law and that is Jane’s hub.

Mark B.  is what we call him here as Katie’s beau is also a Mark.  Mark is an extremely hard worker.  He is a man’s man.  Macho man.  I reluctantly say here that he is also an underestimator of his own abilities, and that one little thing – his underestimation – keeps him back to a small extent.  He can chop down trees, rebuild cars into show cars, do plumbing, electrical, landscaping, and laundry 🙂 like a machine.  He can be a jerk (like all of us) but he has integrated into the family and we accept him as he is.  I left off he can drive a mean 18 wheeler.  I feel bad that he is doing “over-the-road” trucking now and hasn’t been home in forever.  Oh, he is Scottish, so we get to learn about all that Scottish stuff and go to Highland games and what not.  I think he should do Ice Road Truckers and make a ton of cash.  He had an awesome mom and grandma, who still provide us with stories.  “Best thing I ever lapped a lip over!” And two of Janes kids are actually his boys…and maybe someday more babies will be in the family.

We yell, we get mad, we trash talk, we fight, but in the end, we have each other’s backs.

The End.