Family

I just have time for a quick one today; might write more later. But I wanna say that I'm thankful I grew up with three brothers. There were some kind of tough times when we were kids, especially since my dad worked a lot, but the siblings always stuck together and had each others' back, and that made things a whole lot more possible.

Growing up with three brothers definitely made me tough. Crying and whining wasn't really tolerated well, and didn't really help you get anywhere with the parents, anyways. I took my share of tumbles, had to get stitches, watched our back yard shed burn down in the middle of the night, got in fist fights with my little brother, and didn't get out of any of it for being a girl--except maybe working on the cars. Heck, I even had grass to cut.

But that aside, my brothers continue to be there for me. James helped me get my first job, and the one I have now. He let me crash in his guest room when I didn't have really any place to go after my ex and I broke up. He taught me to drive, helped me find a reliable car. Josh is growing up into a pretty alright kid himself. Being the youngest, he was always just a teensy bit more spoiled than the rest of us (not that my parents had the resources to spoil any of us, really). Me and James would pitch in and get him cool Christmas presents like X-boxes that he wouldn't really take all that great care of. Nowadays, though, he's learning what it is to work hard and scrape by. And he's got integrity. We've always kind of used each other as banks, lending and borrowing from one another as we had/needed. He makes it a high priority to pay his debts back, which is admirable. Then, there's Joel. The oldest. He's been through the ringer, too. Joined the military, had a seizure, got discharged, came home, got kicked out (because the house we were staying in didn't really fit five of us, let alone all six), yet he has no hard feelings. Always has an uncomfortably tight hug for his sister. And kind words more than anyone would ever need.

That's all for today, because I better be scampering off to work (with my newest adopted brother, Adam, James's wife's brother). But yeah, growing up with a gagillion siblings toughened me up for sure. And I'm thankful for the role they've played in my life. Even if each of them can be super, super freaking annoying--each in his own way.