Eight is Enough

Did my Mom miss the boat by not having seven other children? I ask because I just spent the weekend in Pennsylvania with one of my closest friends from college and her wonderfully enormous family. Amanda lives in Lebanon, PA, which is in interesting place in and of itself. There is a huge Amish and Mininite presence there which means there's horse and buggy parking at Wal-Mart! Quite the dichotomy! More than that, all the families there are just HUGE. I went with Amanda to the doctors and there was a lady there with five children, with the eldest child being 5-years-old. Families of that size seemed to be the exception rather than the norm in Lebanon.

Amanda's upbringing is a huge contrast to mine. Although I am one of three children, we're all far apart in age with my sister being 8 years older and my brother 8 years younger. This age gap made for a lot of loneliness and self-entertaining growing up. Too, between living alone and spending most of my time working, I've gotten pretty used to rolling solo. As to not make this a sob story, I enjoy and to a great extent, need my alone time -- probably more than most. I just never realized at how much I missed on by not having a large, close-knit immediate family. While with Amanda's family, there was always something comedic going on; someone telling a joke, someone singing an old-school song or some serious debate going on.... all of this a major detour from my work-oriented DC life. I was in PA from Wednesday to Sunday and I didn't check my email once!... anyone who knows me know that that is BIG BIG BIG! Obviously I'm completely aware that work and the pursuit of professional excellence dominates my life, but I don't think I realized all the good stuff that I miss out on in that pursuit...

At the close of the weekend, I think the Davis' made me an honorary member of their family and I definitely have a sincere love for them. But, I must say, I'm a bit more tired today than I was when I left for Pennsylvania last Wednesday! As much as I enjoyed their boisterous company, it's good to return to the peace and quiet of home. And while I would never have eight children (or five or four for that matter) it does seem like a good idea to have two or three children close together so they can have the comfort and fun of each other.