Beck has too many siblings. Jeez, Daddy I so wanted to be an only child. What were you thinking?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

There were 8 babies.
I have 6 sibs I grew up with. An older sister who died well before the rest of us were born. And one, deceased as an adult, sister.

My birth order is 4th. I’m exactly in the middle. 1 boy and 2 girls above me. 1 boy and 2 girls below me.

What the heck were my parents thinking? It’s insane to have that many kids, unless you’re the Kennedy’s or something.
I used to say we were like the Brady bunch gone bad. That’s before I realized they were a blended family. (Hey, I was kinda slow on that, so sue me)
That, and I didn’t wanna be Alice(the maid) in the middle.

It was sheer chaos in our house. But lots of laughter, laundry and love.
We were pretty young when my Mother died. Daddy became both parents to us. He had a good support system, as it turns out.
He did it all seemingly easily. Worked full time. Wasn’t wealthy. But he got all of us through college.
I don’t know how he did it.

When the grandkids started coming he jumped in full force. Always, always had time for all of them.

He was especially fond of Son-of-a-wrek. Y’all may not realize this but Son-of-a-wrek is my step son. My Daddy had no obligation to him. But he made him a priority. They had ‘the’ best relationship.
When Daddy died there were times when Son was the only one who could talk me off the ledge, so to speak. He understood my grief when my siblings were telling me to get over it.
He grieved, reminisced, and laughed with me. I am so lucky that boy has been in my life. I can’t tell you.

It’s a wonder and a burden having such a large family.
I’m amazed daily how strange but familiar my siblings are.
Our shared history makes it easy to fall back into old routines when we’re together.

I’m missing the family reunion things we did nearly every summer. As stupid as they are, the planning nightmare and the one sister who always makes everything difficult. The brother with the ever-revolving door of wives/girlfriends. We did enjoy ourselves. And got caught up. Told the old stories.
Embarrassed the kids.

Will we ever get to have family reunions again?

Yep, I shoulda been an only child.

2

@Beckdawrek

I am the youngest of five. Mom and Dad are gone as well as three of my siblings. My older sister (82) is in very poor health and has been put in hospice three states away. Soon I will be the only remaining member of my family.

Our reunions were wonderful with friends and family alike crowding the yard. It seems to have all slipped away from us.

Sorry for the vent. I was caught at a weak moment…

3

My parents had 7 of us. In 6 years. One set of twins died at birth, so I grew up the youngest of 5. I had 42 first cousins, although some have died over the years.

In the last 3 years we’ve lost my brother, his oldest son (20) and that son’s 2 year old son. When you have a large family, the losses pile up.

StG

4

Firstborn of 5 here. We had the stereotypical 50s/60s household - Dad worked, Mom ran the home, one car, we had our chores, I thought we were solidly middle class. It took some years to figure out we were very much lower middle class, but what did we kids know? We had a house and a yard and we were never hungry. Never went on vacations much, but lots of daytrips by car. Not a bad life.

And not a lot of cousins. Most were older and lived out of state. My mom is one of the last one of her generation left - all aunts and uncles are gone, as well as my dad. A few of Mom’s cousins are still alive, and 2 of my cousins have died.

We never had reunions, but for a while there, we’d have frequent weddings among the older cousins. And Christmas with my maternal grandparents always seemed to include folks we only saw at Christmas, so it was almost like a reunion.

My mom hosts occasional events (most recently July 4) and my brother hosts Christmas now, but that’s about it. We’re spread out and living very separate lives. I mostly wished I was an only child because I had to share a room with my sister till I left home at 19. (So I joined the Navy and had 3 roommates!! :open_mouth: )

5

Vent on. I love these stories.
The human condition is fraught with things like this.

We are all someone’s kid, sibling or other.

That’s what makes the Pandemic so awful. When my sister was dying we are able to be with her. It’s a horrible way to have a reunion. I cannot imagine not being able to be with a loved one while they’re dying.

6

I thought I was the youngest of a large family when I was a kid. Mom, Dad, 2 brothers and a sister. Then I met a somewhat distantly related cousin at some family function for my Mom’s side when I was 13. She was 12 and her uncle was 9. Her Grandparents had 15 kids :exploding_head:. Lots of farmers in that branch of the family.

I guess my family was big for my peer group, everyone else I knew with one exception came from families with only 1or 2 or 3 kids.

Now, all the Gparents are gone, Mom n Dad are getting to “that age”. Dad is driving less, Mom is driving more. I’ve got one brother in the grave for 35 years now. My big sis and I are pretty good friends, we were mortal enemies as kids. Big Bro, yeah, we’ve had our bonding moments over the years. Talked a lot of shop over the phone when we were both in the military, but it’s kinda hit and miss since he’s 10 years older, so never really a large part of my life. The death of my other Big Bro kinda brought us all together a little though.

7

Your Daddy liked the ‘3 M’s’