Looking Back

Looking back to when there were only seven children, five were boys and of course the two girls, the first six born within 6 years. Good thing I was too young to know the difference about what was coming, my life was hectic to say the least. There was the laundry every day, there was the cooking, the constant  cleaning, there was also a lot of worrying, Money was tight even though their dad worked hard at a tough physically wearing job. We were always robbing Peter to pay Paul.
There was always a hum of noise once they got off the school bus, there was time for quiet, the rules were, change your clothes, do your home work, get ready for supper. Then it was whose turn is it for dishes? Strange it was always someone else’s turn not theirs. I thought "someone else" actually lived in my house because it was always his turn to do whatever. Then it was “Is your homework done“? Or “Its bed time kids“. How settling down to sleep could be a noisy happening was beyond me, but it was. I heard “Mom he stole my covers“, “Mom she threw clothes on my side of the floor“. Finally quiet, ah blessed quiet but hold your breath and see if it lasts. There was always one that forgot to go to the bath room, one that needed a drink, one that was hungry, one too hot, one too cold. So holding my breath, yes it was finally quiet.

Now it was get everyone’s clothes ready for tomorrow, check the homework, make sure everything was ready for breakfast, set the alarm and go to bed. During the school year it was the same routine. It was a slow time that went by all too quickly. Now these wonderful individuals that I was raising, were as varied ad a group could be, My oldest daughter , better known as “Miss Mess" hated any kind of housework, she was a social butterfly from day one, it is a fact that she has not changed one bit. I understand it now that I have my mommy’s blinkers off, but at the time I wondered what I did wrong, and the fact that she felt overworked when she had to do dishes with her brother. Then the second child, with his need to be noticed all the time, (strange but he still does) with his exquisite ability for anything art, drawing, singing wanting to learn music but did not want lessons, go figure.
Oldest son Jim also was a stinker, when he and sister Kirsty did dishes, I heard, "Mom he called me fish face", or something as bad, when I would scold him he would stop calling her that, but then I heard, “mom he is making faces at me”. I went to look and there was my Jim, with hands on each side of his mouth pretending to be a fish“. It was hard to not laugh. But then it was hard to not laugh at a lot of their Shenanigans.
Third child, not understanding him but now looking back he was that child that did not want to be seen. So brilliant but not thinking learning was important. In first grade when the report cards came, I ooohed and aaahed over the older two’s good marks and then I looked at Lee’s, and he had all Ds. Kind of shocked, I just said, “Lee these are all Ds”. He looked at me and said, “Mom they are not Fs”, and that was his philosophy and nothing ever changed it. He was the peace maker in the family; He would take the blame for all misdoing of the others. At the time I wondered how such a quiet child could get into so much mischief.

Then as the years passed the rest of the children became what each of them would pretty much be in their futures, Mitch, disappearing from his chores to go clean barns at the stockyard, his love of working hands on is still with him. Steve to invent things  and at age three decided to run away from home instead of going to bed, So with his winter cap on , his snow boots, his jacket on upside down, a pair of mittens and no pants, he was ready to go to Texas. He was so cute and so serious that I bribed him with a cookie to stay until morning. He is still trying to find his place in this world.
Then there was Mary, better known as: Mouse: so tiny, so able to wrap her brothers around her finger and bossy, whinny, tiny bundle of, “mom he looked at me”, “Mom he touched my hair”. “Mom he said he touched my food“, on and on and on. She controlled all of those boys with money when she got old enough to go out and baby sit, she saved her money and then would borrow it out to the boys with interest and kept their stuff for collateral. Sometimes she had car keys, eight tracks, walk mans what ever the boys had she would take and keep in her room until they paid her.
The then baby Brother Tom was my hyper child, he walked at six months, had no fear of anything, and (still does not). This child had more trips to the ER than all the rest put together. But he was a happy child, how many times I thought he would not survive, proved he was one tough child when he cut his arm and with it nerves and arteries and veins. We rushed him to Rochester to mayo Clinic, where they said he would most likely lose the arm, but we said tries to save it. And they did, He and I worked everyday to bring feeling back to his useless strapped to his side arm. His goal was to get better so he could play football and after five long years of stimulating and exercising his arm, the doctors said go for it. And he did. He also ruined his knees doing it and had a school record for concussions. But he made it to his goal and to this day that is his attitude, just do it.