I love big families! I grew up in a family of seven, which may not seem big to some, but for me, if you had a minivan, you had a big family. That was us. Our minivan was ‘loaded’ the door was electric, all you had to do was push a button and the door would sing a tune as it opened & closed. I felt like a movie star getting out of that white whale. When we headed out on vacation, we were the cool family. We would get a cooler, put it between my parents’ seats, and then put a tv with a built in VHS player on top. No plug? No problem, we had an adapter to plug that baby into the cigarette lighter. We rode around in style! As the car seats piled in over time, I was demoted to the very back. It was alright, if we needed to communicate with the pilot and his navigator, we could just pull out our megaphone and send a message. If they needed to send one back, we could chose to ignore it (since we were so far back, they would assume we probably didn’t hear the message) or we could respond. Usually that was when we were in the drive-thru at Wendy’s. All we needed to say was, “CHICKEN NUGGETS, FRIES! AND I THINK I NEED THAT IN A KIDS MEAL WITH A CHOCOLATE FROSTY!” We must have been too far back for the pilot to hear that last part… as the kids meals were few and far between. As you can see, we were living the dream.
My brother and I could poke and prod each other, usually it was him picking the fights, I would win some, he would ALMOST win others. I'd like to think we were typical siblings.
Now comes my confession, I shouldn’t be giving myself up like this, but I remember one time being SO irritated with him. Who knows what triggered the spat, but needless to say he did something to me, which was usually the case… me being the oldest, I was perfect of course. Anyway, because of it, that day we couldn’t sit by each other in the cheap seats. So, he sat in front of me. I sat there steaming, think of all the things that I could do to get back at him. When I formulated a plan, quite literally. I chewed that piece of double bubble gum to the perfect consistency. When he leaned forward to pick up something off the floor, I quickly, but gently stuck that piece gum to the headrest of his seat. He sat back, and ‘Bingo’ I had him. The whole ride through the Ogden Canyon, he moved his head back and forth, up and down, just like kids do. I sat back with a grin only the Grinch could grin. When it was time to get out, he happened to reach back and scratch his head, his hand was met with a sticky surprise. Next came the wail of horror. Then the questions. When it was my turn to speak, I simply and quite innocently said, “It must have been somewhere on your jacket when you put it on! Gosh, that’s going to hurt to get out.” I played it off perfectly. Like I said, I don’t know why I’m giving myself up now, I’ve been innocent at least 15 years.
Our battles continued, until I hit high school. Something happened, and my biggest rival, became my best friend. Even though he was younger than I, he would protect me from ‘unfit suitors,’ and mean girls, he would sit on my bed at night and we would talk, laugh, and tease. The only thing we fought about was who’s turn it was to do the dishes. Lucky for me, I was the one who would regularly count his armpit hairs to make sure everything was on schedule, videoed him as he ‘got air’ going over a 1ft high pile of dirt on his orange motorcycle (yes it still reminds me of something you’d see on Napoleon Dynamite), and the one who was first to know about his crush on his future wife. We were buddies. He still means the world to me. He’s still a good lookin’ guy, and still loves trucks, tractors and dirt. Go figure. He always said that when he grew up, he would have a mustache, and drive a dump truck. He drives a dump truck and has been working on growing a mustache for the past two years. Unfortunately, I stole all the facial hair genes. I could grow a good lookin' mustache within a week, but we will keep praying for him and HIS mustache, miracles can happen.
Now you may wonder, what in the world does this have to do with this cute family we have seen throughout this rambling? Well, everything. The Newman family is a family full of great people. Spending time with them made memories flash through my mind, sending me back to wrestling in the front room, water fights in the kitchen (yeah, my mom loved those), and locking each other out of the house when mom was gone. I watched those Newman siblings tease and love each other, just like my own family does. They all have different stories, and yet they each contribute so much to the family. I would have loved to be a fly on their wall as that family grew up, I’m sure they have some good stories to tell! Debbie and Todd are beekeepers, and they are amazing! I get so excited for Christmas time because I get a ration of homemade honey caramels! They are to die for! Love, love them! Their children are no less amazing. Hopefully they don’t shoot me for sharing but, on the location site, there was an old outhouse, and we got the biggest kick out of that building, my ribs hurt from laughing at the faces they would pull! A family that laughs together, stays together, I know that to be true!
“The love of a family is life’s greatest blessing."
All this reminiscing has made me wonder, anyone else have a sibling rivalry that turned into one of your most cherished relationship?
"Siblings share childhood memories, and grown-up dreams."
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