Family

Starting on my movie-making career this week brought back lots of memories. Going through pictures and remembering old friends and the things we have done together. The best pictures, though, were the ones of my family. I have not been close to them physically since leaving home many, many years ago but I am close to them in my heart. I did not even really know the oldest five as they are so much older than I am they seem to be their own family and the five youngest of us made our own family. It has not been until I became an adult that I have really gotten to know some of my sisters and brothers. I am still closest to those siblings that are closer in age to me than I am to the older ones but now at least I feel that I am their sister. My oldest sister is only 19 years older than I am and had a daughter that was six months younger than I am. She is a crazy lady that is up for any adventure at the drop of a hat. Just invite her and she is ready! The second oldest sister is practical and kind of boring but nice and willing to help you out if she can. The next older sister liked to laugh a lot and a good story or a practical joke were things that she liked to take part in. The next older sister has a sad sense of humor and has learned to take life too seriously. I don't know how she ended up that way because none of the rest of us are like that. My older brother likes to be the life of the party and has a really generous heart. The next sister is fun and does a lot of traveling to visit friends and family but is stuck with an arrogant husband so no one wants to go visit her. The next sister likes to have fun but is too lazy to put out a lot of effort. She is remarkably creative and I have always been a little envious of her artistic talent. The next sister was my best friend growing up. We are still close and we talk either on the phone or on the Internet quite often. My younger brother is the most calm and normal. Even my kids think that I come from a family of crazies but they admit that my family likes to have fun. We do great family reunions every three to five years and try to do them at a variety of locations. We camped at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, one year and took my 74 year-old mother white water rafting on the Snake River. We camped on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state one year and went clamming (out of season it turns out) and caught enough to feed the whole lot of us. One year it was in Orofino, Idaho, where I had lived for nine years growing up. That trip was the one with the most memories as we were burying our mom with our dad. It was great to reminisce about them and a really good time for the older ones to share memories of our dad since he died when half of us were still in school. Fewer of our children are attending the family reunions and that is unfortunate but we still stay in touch and we will always be family.