Friday, January 25, 2008

O le 'Aiga Tele

I have to say that one of the greatest gifts my parents gave me was letting me grow up with siblings. Lots of siblings actually. There are ten of us. Nine girls and one boy.

This picture is of Jan's wedding in 2004. The living girls from shortest to tallest (with shoes), Jan, Rachel, Katie, Shellie, Marcie, Jill, Melinda, and Stephanie. I love this picture because it shows how similar we are in body shape and facial expression, but different in style and manner. It amazing to be uniquely connected to each other in very being.

For Christmas, we all received copies of old home movies on DVD, and as we've watched them we've laughed, cried, (fought motion sickness), and remembered those precious years of growing and goofiness in the Fillmore house.

And the growing and goofiness has not ceased in our adulthood. No, it's been mulitplied as our kids show how uncannily they are just like we were.


As a mother I love seeing Ella help Isaac put on his shoes. And when Isaac is asked what his name is, he says "Ella". I'm starting to understand how pleased my mom must've felt when we all got along. And how she still feels now that we're all older and FRIENDS.

My brother in law Ken shared his feeling for his large family in his latest post. I'll also mention that Ken's blog was the first blog I ever read, and remains my favorite.

3 comments:

Jessica G said...

Siblings are the best! Fun to see how similar you are to your sisters.

Jan Allan said...

That is one of my favorite pictures from my wedding...and my dear husband isn't even in it. :)

Anonymous said...

we had a big family too, there are advantages, fer shurr...

One risk tho, is that when there are so many kids, it's hard for busy or otherwise struggling dads to keep track of them all, or to build close relationships with everyone of da little (or big) ones. May be just me, as I have faced many handicaps.