The Gift that Keeps on Giving!

Mondays arrive with a new sense of  dread, now that I am the"Tuesday Blogger" here at On This Day Designs.  Yet to my surprise,  more then once an idea for a post has popped into my mind at the 11 hour. (Thank you Blessed Mother!) Such is the case today.  A friend posted an article on Facebook that made me vigorously nod my head and say (out loud) "yes, this is exactly what I have always thought!"

This article, The Gift of Siblings, was written by Frank Bruni and was published in The New York Times, Sunday Review.  I am often confronted with the question; "Why have so many kids?"  I have answered this question much like Bruni does in this article.  "Siblings are a great gift. I am very grateful for the 7 siblings that my parents blessed me with and I wanted these same blessings for my children."

It is these siblings and I that can ride the same joke for hours (even days!) laughing until the tears run dry and we need to change our pants (some of us have had a lot of kids!). It is these siblings and I that shared the intense sorrow and pain of watching our beloved mother suffer and die.  So grateful that we did not have to carry this burden alone.  It is to these siblings that I turn to share the joys and sorrows of raising my own family.  It is from this "pool of siblings" that I seek advice navigating the struggles and choices in life and, like Bruni mentions in this article, it's nice when you have several to choose from!  I am grateful for my parent's sacrificial and generous "gift of siblings."

And the blessings do not stop there!  When you are blessed with a lot of siblings there is a good chance your kids will have a lot of cousins.  We just finished a long weekend of "cousin swapping" as it is affectionately called.  These cousins are life long friends. My sister Sue captured this picture of my Ruthie and her Livvie today as she was returning my kids after yesterday's swap.  Siblings, the gift that keeps on giving!

Peace and JOY,

Nancy

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