Flashback Friday

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about my brothers and my sister. If you didn't know, I have three brothers:

• Fred (oldest),
• Jon (2nd oldest) and
• Matt

I have one sister -- Cindy -- who is the middle child. Don't feel sorry for her ... she totally does not have "middle-child syndrome!" You'd think SHE was the "baby." ;)

My family tease about how with me being the "baby" of the family, that I couldn't wait for all of the other kids to hurry up and get out of the house. Regardless of what they say, they are wrong.

I loved having a lot of siblings. If my dad wouldn't have remarried, I would have never had a sister and I would've been short a very important brother. We've been a family since I was 6 years-old. I could not imagine my life without them and very grateful that God gave me the family I needed.

I miss them a lot and I think about them every.single.day!

We are all pretty spread out these days (Michigan, Florida, Virginia) and we simply do not see each other like I wish we could. Distance, along with having our own families, careers and sometimes just the petty stuff ... tend to keep family apart. If you let it, it can make you pretty sad.

I always pray for them and hope they know how much their baby sister loves and misses them.

Old pictures make me smile and bring back some of the best memories. Nowadays, pictures of all of us together are far and few between. When/If it happens ... they are treasured.

I look at these pictures -- remember what hellions we were -- and think "I have NO IDEA how my parents survived!!!"