My husband is the oldest of 6. I am the youngest of 6. We both loved coming from big families. I am eight years younger than my next oldest sibling. I had the best of both worlds for a lot of things. When it came time for having siblings, I had them. When it was easier to be an only child. I kinda had that too. With so many years difference between my siblings and I, there wasn't a huge chance for me to bond with them when I was younger. They all took care of me and loved me, but I never really had the opportunity to do "sisterly" things. I never stayed up late gossiping with my sisters, went shopping together, shared clothes or took a family vacation where I had to share a bed with them. There was never shared jokes and bantering. By the time I came around, most of them were moving on with their own lives. My oldest niece is only 2 years younger than me and I was closer to my nieces than I was to my sisters.
That's changed as I became an adult and as life and difficult circumstances occurred. I loved them and looked to them for advice, support and love. Unfortunately as that changed, I also moved about 1,000 miles away. I feel that distance so strongly now as I raise so many children so often on my own. Having a sibling that I love and trust living closely, would be the greatest thing in the world to me right now. Whenever I go "home" , my kids have the best experiences. They have cousins of all ages that will go and do things with them. Even though there is such a huge age gap between my siblings and I, there isn't quite such a large age gap between my children and some of their cousins. (Getting married young had it's benefits!) They have aunts and uncles that I fully trust and that invite them to do things and to spend time with. No one else in my family lives more than 20 minutes away from the house that I grew up in. The life we would live if we didn't move to my husbands home town would be so completely different than the life we live now.
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| A fraction of the cousins on my side. |
That being said, the circumstances that have been the reasons we chose to move here are still in place. It is much easier for my husband to farm here. So here we shall stay. I will make the best with what I have. What I do have is so incredibly great. I have six healthy children. I have a husband who loves me and our family. I have the opportunity to foster the relationships that my children are forming with their siblings. I may not have grown up sharing clothes but my children sure are. They love being able to pass things back and forth, and when they can't find something that they want or need, they can reach into their siblings dresser or closet and pull something on. I am able to see my daughters holding their brother's hands as we cross the road. I see the joy in my 1 year olds face when she sees her sisters coming out from school and I can watch her run to hug her brothers when they come in from playing outside.
This past summer my husband had the five children out on the boat. Baby was still cooking and I was on bed rest. #5 was sitting on the edge splashing her feet in the water while they were anchored out. My husband turned his back for a minute and she decided that it was a good time to jump in. She had a life jacket on and the water was shallow. Before my husband could even react #3 had dived in after her and #4 was running to the edge of the boat to get his baby sister. Neither one of them could swim well ,even with their life jackets, but that wasn't going to stop them from protecting their sister.
So yeah, I've got 6 kids. Yes they are all very close in age. Yes it is a ton of work. Yes I really may be insane. But as long as they are loving each other and learning about the importance of caring for others, then it's worth it.
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