Family

It’s an urban myth, that suicide rates spike at the holidays. Turns out they actually go down. Experts think it’s because people are less inclined to off themselves when surrounded by family. Ironically that same family togetherness is thought to be the reason depression rates actually do spike at the holidays. 

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There’s an old proverb that says you can’t choose your family. You take what the fates hand you and like them or not, love them or not, understand them or not, you cope. Then there’s the school of thought that the family your born into is simply a starting point. They feed you and clothe you and take care of you until your ready to go out into the world and find your drive.

Family - it has to be the CRAZIEST 6 letter word! Atleast it is when it comes to the family I was born into... we literally put the function in dysfunction. If you think yours is crazy, then you haven't met mine yet! My childhood wasnt the best... tossed between parents every other weekend, the arguments between parents, step siblings/half siblings, I hate you's and so much more but I will say that thru all of those hardships we all certainly came out on top. While you get to spend your holidays with your mom and dad and maybe a brother/sister or two, I get 3 families and lots of siblings and lots of family time and that much MORE LOVE. However, my family doesnt stop there, being alone and spending the holidays alone for so long has allowed me to accept others into my family. I have made friends that have turned into my family and I wouldnt accept them as anything less!

I had the frustrating joy of spending this weekend with my family. We celebrated not only the festive holiday but we were all brought together to celebrate the end of a 4 yr engagement between Shelby and the University of NC - Chapel Hill! Yes, my sister graduated and it was an incredibly proud & bitter sweet moment to see my sister in her cap & gown for the 2nd time! She is such an amazing person with so much drive its almost sickening! ;) Congratulations again Shelby, you continue to make your family (and soon-to-be family) so proud of you! Welcome to the Real World!!!

My weekend started with meeting my sister, Tiffany, on the SC/NC border to pick up my niece and nephew. My sister had to drive for a couple more hours so we made the plan to get the kids out of the car while she made that trek with my brother. The kids and I met up with Tori at the mall and we had dinner before walking around a bit (well Tori and I walked as the kids ran circles around us! haha oh to have that much energy again!) The kids and I made it back home and watched lots of Despicable Me and Megamind ... ITS SO FLUFFFFFFY! The kids both fell asleep in my arms which made Aunt Stephie (thanks to Ryan this is what the kids call me now! haha) melt! Tiffany and Richard made it in late that night with Big Jon.

Saturday we decided to venture to the mall. We spent the whole time in Build-a-Bear it seemed. Inside the mall was a short lived event. It wasnt until we went into the parking lot that the fun really started! Holiday traffic is one thing but Holiday traffic in the mall is a whole other ball park. We pulled out of our parking spot and sat in one row of traffic for a good 30 mins before we realized it wasnt going to move and finally the car behind us had the bright idea to back up to the end of the lane and use the inner lane of the mall circle to get out, so we followed suit. Well of course as we do it, we end up in traffic (where there was none shortly before that) on the inner circle. This is however where it started getting real entertaining. Every mall goer in and out of the mall was having to pass by our vehicle... Richard decided we would start "Spreading Christmas Cheer Loud for All to Hear". Every passerby was greeted with a Merry Christmas, Shalom, You're Beautiful, Have a Good Day, Here Pull Out in Front of Me, and many many more! After about another 30 mins of this we FINALLY get to a stop sign but wait NOW we have to make a left and end up in passing lane after lane full of cars trying to get to the outside lanes to get out of the mall area. So Richard decided to drive all the way to the last one that has to curve around another 2x before we get out i.e. the LONGEST LINE!

For anyone with children, sitting in a vehicle for over an hr and a half... in traffic... 5 month old, 2 year old, 7 year old... and a post prego mother.... that could not end well! So we decide hey, lets get some Christmas tunes on! Now if anyone knows my brother, they also know that he is very charismatic and holds back NOTHING! haha I will never forget going to Eastover Elementary School one year to listen to his Christmas Performance when he sang and at this time Richard had not peaked maturity, no voice change, no little prickly facial hairs... just his little puny baby voice when he started singing though he turned into a man. My brother at his elementary age belted out that song with some bass! haha So of course while we are in the car stuck in traffic the song that comes on the radio was White Christmas and what does he do?? BELTS IT! In his loudest, bass voice, and all sings word for word! Folks about 2 rows over preceded to clap once he finished and it had to be the funniest thing that entire ride. Prior to this, Richard had jumped out to grab something out of the trunk and I stole the driver's seat (I was trying to get out of the mall at some point before dusk!). We finally made it up to the stop sign before we hit the outer loop. People were so timid and scared to inch their way out and it made trying to get out that much harder... FINALLY we were able to catch a break and a car wanted to turn right to get into where we were coming out. I took that opportunity to get into the outer loop however I needed to get over to the next lane and those cars werent budging. Now we were in a big ole Cadillac Escalade... those vehicles are not small by any means. so I am edging my way into the left lane of traffic which means that I am also blocking off the right lane on the outer circle. I think the cars that had been waiting to turn right onto the outer circle were some happy folks... they looked like I just open the doors at an animal testing facility and was letting every one free haha they were flying out of that area as fast as they could before I wouldnt be able to let them out anymore. It had to be the 2nd funniest moment of our time stuck in the parking lot but it made it that much more funnier as my brother, sister and kids were narrating/personifying these cars as they were flying out into the outer loop.

That evening Mom, CD, and Anneliese came in since they too had been traveling all day to get to Shelby's and it was getting late and I was on the way. Now originally plans were for me, Tiffany, Richard, and the kids to have already been at Shelby's Friday since Dad and Ronna flew in that day. Saturday was set aside for the exchange of presents and Sunday was Shelby's graduation followed by Nantucket to celebrate. So we are at Saturday night midnight and none of that had happened yet. Saturday night we decided with Shelby that ok, we are getting up, getting ready and we will exchange presents before heading to her graduation at 2pm. Instead, we were making a walmart run at 2 am and then going to sleep which meant we had a late start the next morning. Tiffany made breakfast and then we all ran around the apt getting ready. One in, One out when it came to the shower, some tushie squeezing, lots of clothes changing, and lots of "don't look this way when you walk out the bathroom". It made for some pretty funny comments to be made that I choose not to share! haha So by this time its 11:30am and we are running out the door in 3 different vehicles to get to Chapel Hill. Ava and I stop for gas before hitting the open road and singing Christmas music all the way there. That girl has my heart!

Some how we made it to Shelby's, I ironed her gown, and we all made it to the ceremony on time where we finally got to see Dad and Ronna! We all got together for dinner along with Shelby's soon to be in-laws and spent some time together before exchanging a few gifts and heading back to Shelby's to exchange the rest of the gifts between us and the kids. At this point, everyone started parting ways.

Now what I really havent shared is all the arguing or frustrating moments of this weekend... and there were ALOT! Who wants to remember those though? Even though my family has their ups and downs, the all out brawls, just the craziness in general... we are all we have and at the end of the day we can hug it out say I love you and get in the car until we see each other the next time. I cannot say how truly frustrating this weekend was but what I can say is I have not been this happy in a while and I couldnt imagine my life with out having each and every one of them in my life. They are my blessing, my lifeline, and my saving grace because at the end of the day I know that they will always be there for me.


I love you guys more than words will ever express and even if we all do not share the same blood, ya'll are nothing short of the best family a girl could ever ask for!