Today's blog is about my siblings. I am very fortunate to be born into a large family. There are fourteen of us. I don't know how my parents felt about having so many of us. I mean it wasn't our choice. They were in charge of that. But I think they loved each and every one of us, especially me. I was everybody's favorite. Some of my family may disagree with that.
When I reveal how many brothers and sisters I have, people ask, "Are you Amish?" But no we were not Amish nor Catholic. We were a Norwegian commune. We lived together in very small and meager homes. We farmed. We raised dairy cattle, for milking and for the milk check. We raised a large garden full of potatoes, green beans, corn, and tomatoes. We raised tobacco to pay for the taxes on the farm. My mother made us have all the tobacco planted by the 4th of July or we didn't get to go to the fireworks. And then in the fall if the tobacco wasn't harvested we missed the fair. Believe me those were big events. There wasn't much else going on in our little rural utopia.
I have eight brothers and five sisters. I won't name them because I can't remember all of them. (Just kidding)....actually that would be a give away. They are all alive and in reasonably good health. I am still in awe of all that my mother did to raise us kids. My father died when I was very young. She pretty much raised us by herself. Of course the older kids took care of us younger ones. I have many fond memories of that. They also took care of some of the disciplining. I have some not so fond memories of that.
Although my mother passed away our family continues to grow. More to come on my siblings. I will tell you all the juicy details...