The most normal people I know...

Yesterday was a rite of summer.  My sister and her kids, and my brother and his phone, congregated at my house to hang out and eat food.  Lunching the summer away seems to be one of our most favorite past times.  Regardless of the fact that we love to eat, the cousins love to play with each other (and let me tell you, Miss Molly-wog can hold her own with a light saber) and I love to hang out with my brother and my sister.

We sat at the kitchen table for a couple of hours, while the kids were all over the place and Quinn the sloth slowly ate little pieces of french fries in his high chair, laughing and teasing and talking.  We talked about music and family and our lack of friends in high school (me and Haley) and out of high school (my brother's friends have divorced him since he broke-up with his non-girlfriend).

It was fun.

One of my favorite kind of days.  In fact, we knew Haley was bringing us lunch, but when Uncle Willie pulled into the driveway behind her, and the boys saw that their fun was about to double, Elliott exclaimed, "Uncle Willie is here too!  Now, it's a party!"

Last Saturday, we all headed out to my grandpa's to work.  His ancient railroad tie flower bed was in decay and my mom had convinced him that my dad and Ross could build him something new with stone.  He said he'd been nervous about it all week, but that he finally stopped thinking about it and decided to let my mom go ahead with her plan.  We arrived around Noon to get working.  And get swimming because let's face it, that's what all the members of the work crew 18 and under wanted to do.  Ross and my dad built the wall in record time and it only took one extra trip to Lowes.  My mom did the yard work and I baby sat the kiddos in the back yard.

It was fun.

It was a perfect Saturday.  And, the funny thing is - that night we got home, finished our yard work and in desperation for dinner, got Chili's for take out.....my parents?  They got home, finished their yard work, got cleaned up and went to Chili's for dinner.  Great minds think alike, apparently.

But all of this is useless and mindless storytelling unless I get to my point, right?

Right?

Here is the point.....

Ross and I were having a conversation on Saturday after building the wall, or maybe before, cannot remember.  I told him that as strange as we all may be, my immediate family, we are the most normal and high functioning group of people that we know.  We are educated, sincere, intelligent, hard working, funny people.  We do service.  We help each other out.  We love each other.  We always put each other first.  Collectively, we can sing the lyrics to pretty much ever song ever recorded, and a few of our own. We buy each other lunch and show up on time for the shuttle to go to Disneyland.  We do what my mom and dad tell us to do and ask us to do.  We go to church and are faithful.  We are honest and have integrity.  We try to be kind to everyone.  We always tell the truth and never do things that are dishonest.  We talk to each other, work out our differences, and move forward.  We don't make excuses.  We support each other in all that we do.

My mom and dad are pretty cool.  I'm not sure how they created such a tight knit "together" family but they did.  Well, I know how they did it.  Lots of hard work,  sacrifice, and dedication to all the right things.

And, we all have some pretty tight dance moves, too.

Not really.