If there is something that I can brag about myself that I do well it is take care of my family. I am a multitasker of sorts. Between my husband and myself, we are a combined fascinating accumulation of 7 distinct personas. There is my husband, Brad whom is in his third year of recovery from and injury on the job site where he was hit in the head with a fourteen foot steel beam. Thank God for hardhats that he is still with me! He has not been able to return to work nor drive for the past two and a half years and he gets stir crazy around the house creating projects for us to work on. Lord knows he is my very own box of chocolates. I never know what I am walking into when I get home. He has short term memory issues and has episodes where he blanks out from time to time making him another child that needs a babysitter. (Thank you to all of my gracious friends that come and help look out for him when I am working.) Without Brad being able to drive that leaves me the only driver to get the kids to school, appointments and sporting events. I use a lot of gas and run up a lot of miles on the roads.
My oldest daughter, Sadie is sixteen. She drives and is gainfully employed by choice of mother dearly. Mommy makes her pay for her insurance. Yeah, I know what a meanie I am. She sometimes thinks that she is older than she really is but that is because I had to raise her by myself for the first seven and a half years. Her father finally stepped in about four years ago and they seem to be getting those missed years ironed out. I love her but she makes me want to pull my hair out at times. She is very active in Volleyball and softball which the season is about to start. She is a Varsity third base and Junior Varsity shortstop. Lots of games I will be attending.
My step-son, Brandon is fifteen and had ADHD. Brandon has lived with us since he was in the first grade and we have helped him excel in school despite his disability. He is no Einstein mind you, but he holds his own. He is very active in sports like football and wrestling (season just ended) and is doing 4-H where he is showing hogs. So we have been working on getting the barn ready for them to be delivered.
My son, Tanner is fourteen. He is into computers and video games and knows how to help his dad work on car engines. He is quieter and is not into sports but makes up for it in intellect. He does play sports socially with his friends and would make one hell of a quarterback if he wanted to. The kid really does have a great arm on him. He is always the first one to help me around the house and the last one to complain about it.
My step-daughter Brittany is thirteen and lives with her mother in Illinois. She comes over every other weekend to visit. We try to keep up with her sports and music recitals when possible but is not always easy to do when you live over 30 miles apart and the times are an hour different. She plays softball and basketball and sings in choir sometimes. She used to play soccer and has talked about starting volleyball next season.
Then there is our six year old Logan. He is in Kindergarten and keeps us very busy all of the time. He still pretty full time wants all of our attention, but the older kids have been great helping me out by keeping him so that I can run out to the store by myself at times. He loves to play outside running on our 14 acre farm playing with the chickens and our dog. He will also helps with chores of collecting the eggs and stacking fire wood. I do have to be careful with him because he like Brandon and Brad are highly allergic to poison ivy which doesn’t help living in the country. This kid amazes me everyday with his new vocabulary, his imagination when he plays independently with toys or his hand and eye coordination on his video game.
With all of this said, I guess that I do a pretty good job balancing everyone out and keeping everyone grounded. Or maybe they keep me grounded. I feel that taking care of all of them is something that I do well. Maybe not great, but well and it seems to get us by. So I amaze myself for when I find the time to work on several manuscripts and work a full time job too. They are my backbone and I love them all dearly. They are my life. Everything else is just a luxury. They are the necessity.
