The Stacks

Chapter 3: Family

Video: "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath

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On Saturday, I went home to hang with my family for the weekend, which was always enjoyable; even more so if my sisters were there, which they were. My older sister Charlotte was visiting, and my younger sister Lauren, who still lived at home, didn't have any plans for the weekend. Charlotte lived in Ann Arbor where she worked as a junior design consultant for an interior design company. She had actually helped me to decorate my loft, but we shared similar tastes, so her ideas weren't too crazy for me. Lauren was in her first year at The Art Institute of Michigan, majoring in Photography. Both of them were wildly creative, obviously, while I simply loved books and stories and words. I supposed that I had some creativity within me, but I hadn't done much writing outside of college coursework, except some poetry. I guess I was still looking to find my niche.

While the three of us ranged in age from Charlotte's 24 years to Lauren, who was only 18, we got along exceptionally well. We went shopping and had lunch with my mom, which was an age-old tradition for the four of us. When we were together, it seemed as if we were peers, not mother and daughters, since my mom was only 47. 

My parents were high school sweethearts, so two years seemed like plenty of time to wait to get married once they graduated from high school. At the age of 21, my mom had my oldest brother, Martin, who's now 26. Being 21 myself, going on 22, I couldn't imagine getting married and having a baby at this age. But it worked out well for my parents. Martin was their first baby and they didn't stop until my youngest brother Collin was born. The grand total was six kids in ten years: Martin, Charlotte, myself, Lauren, Sean, and Collin.

I had no idea how my mother survived; she was and still is an awfully patient woman, I'll give her that much. When we were all much younger, people used to ask her if we were Catholic because we had such a big family, and my mother would always cause them to blush by saying something like, "Oh, my husband and I just love each other very much!" Or even more bluntly, "We just really enjoy sex." That usually shut people up and taught them a lesson for sticking their noses in other people's business. I had no plans to have anywhere near six children, but I honored my parents for welcoming all of us since my family was my rock, my team for life. The six of us were always close because of our proximity in age. Even the oldest and youngest had a good friendship. We had all learned patience and cooperation from living in such close quarters, and of course, from the saintly example of my parents' guidance over the years. 

If I were in my parents' situation, I would imagine that I would be eagerly awaiting my youngest child's graduation so I could reclaim my home; but knowing my parents, they would probably build a few more houses on our large chunk of land so that we could all live right next door to them. Not that we would all choose to do so, but our parents made sure we knew we could always come home, no matter how far we had gone or how long we had been away. 

My mom, sisters and I talked about school, work, and relationships, especially since Lauren had started dating a guy that she had met in her digital design class.

"Don't make me a grandmother before I'm fifty," my mother told her dryly. 

"Mom, seriously? Give me some credit," Lauren laughed, knowing there was a teasing tone hidden under my mother's outwardly stoic statement. 

"I want to feel young for another few years," she reasoned, giving us a smirk. "When fifty hits, there's no way I can trick myself into believing I'm still young."

"Mom," Charlotte said with just a hint of sarcasm in her voice, "You're always as young as you feel."

"Don't give me that bullshit," Mom sneered at my sister, but then she cracked up laughing, along with us.