Us and Things

Waiting at for the Play Parade at California Adventure with Aunt Anne

I am number 6 of 7 kids, which are broken up into "the 4 older kids" and "the 3 little kids" due to a 3-year gap.  Even though I was part of the 3 little kids, I felt much more comfortable with the 4 older ones.  My sister Anne, pictured above, and my younger brother Andrew, of Steampunk Nintendo fame, were partners in crime and I was the odd man out.

They were always off lighting toilet seats on fire (true story) or whatever, and I was left to... I don't know, ride my bike by myself to swim team or read Anne of Green Gables again.  I don't ever remember fighting with them, except one time at school when I passed Anne and her friends in the hall and she... well, since this is a post about how we're friends now, let's just let that one go.  The point is that we lived parallel lives, never doing those things that you picture sisters doing together (laughing, gossiping, doing each other's hair, playing, etc.)

I read in Nurtureshock that siblings with cool relationships tend to stay that way; if you weren't friends when you were kids, you won't be friends when you grow up.  I'm glad that Anne and I have defied statistics and have become friends as adults.  She calls me to chat on her way home from work, and I call her when I need to figure out what I'm going to make for dinner.

So while I worry about my girls being friends when they're little, I don't stress too much, because they'll figure it out eventually.


*Note: I just remembered another time I fought with Anne.  It was right in the middle of The Clapper craze of the 90's and she had gotten one for Christmas or something.  I was so mad about who knows what that I went into her room and started yelling.  The volume of my voice starting flicking the lights on and off, which made Anne laugh which made me even madder.  It's finally starting to be funny... after 20 years.

There's a woman I know who is moving to E\ngland for a year.  She is pretty much the nicest person in the world and so it comes as no surprise that everyone is very sad to see her go, and they organized a big farewell dinner in her honor.  I couldn't go because I had to work, but I'm sure a lot of people went because everyone loves this lady. 

Note: this is not a post to whine about how I have no friends... it's funny at the end.

Tyler and I got to go on a date last night.  We went to a fancy hipster restaurant for fancy ice cream and then went to see The Hunger Games.  (Side note: When am I going to stop being surprised that people bring their 5-to-6-year old kids to violent movies at NINE FIFTY PM?)  I brought up the fact that if we moved away, the list would be pretty short of people who would come to our going away party.  Which is fine, I think having that many friends takes a lot of time and energy, two things that are currently in short supply at our house, and I really like the friends we have.  We talked about what it would be like to be popular and puzzled about what popular people do with their friends.  (I really have no idea, what do you do with the kids?)

As we were driving from the ice cream place to the movie theaters, we passed an antique shop called "Ye Old Toms."  Tyler started laughing and said that he read "Ye Old Tomes"... like books.  We joked about what a bookshop that only sold tomes would look like and the poor hapless customer who wanders in looking for a novel.  "Sorry, no fiction buddy, only volumes."  We laughed and giggled for a good 5 minutes about that one.

Then we laughed some more about how nerdy we were and how this is probably the exact reason why we never were and never will be popular. 

We headed up to Albuquerque to see one of our good friends marry an awesome girl.