I have one of those families that doesn't make sense in the real world. We're like a modern-day Leave It to Beaver gang, hosting twenty-person sleepovers and carrying on layers of conversation that build in volume and intensity as the day goes on. If I were to try to capture our interactions in writing, no one would believe me that we're real. But we are.A look at my weekend:
- I get the tour of my parents' new place in Orillia. Including the backyard where I could apparently host the wedding I'm not currently planning. Sometimes conversations get hilariously and/or awkwardly out of hand.
- They live near the water. Which means their place is my new fake cottage. Gorgeousness.
- I try to play Mario Kart. Oddly, the more we play, the worse I get. This is followed up by a viewing of "The Office" which makes everything all better. Jim is my hero.
- I play the piano at my parents' church. My brother's on drums. My uncle leads with guitar. My aunt sings.
- Fourteen people eat sandwiches and talk at the same time. Then off to Parry Sound.
- I heart Parry Sound.
- We go on long walks as one huge group. There are no egos. If you're 12, you can hang out with a 21-year-old. In fact, it would be weird if you didn't.
- Photography lessons. My camera is full of pictures of leaves. Often of the same leaves from slightly different angles.
- Crokinole is exciting. As is cousins spontaneously breaking out into song. I'm serious. We're the Partridge Family.
- Pumpkin pie and birthday cake ensure that we have a balanced meal.
- Some play midnight soccer on the beach. The rest stay behind to play Scrabble and swap prison stories. Yes, REAL prison stories.
- Sleepover. Four girls share a room. I'm the oldest girl there by seven years. But don't feel old.
- Pancakes after very little sleep somehow cancels the sleepiness. Carbs > exhaustion. And coffee is my favorite beverage innovation in the history of the world.
- Another walk. To a lookout tower. So I can look out and wonder why I live in the city. I need fresh air more often.
- The weather is perfect. I want to live in last weekend all year round.
- We hug goodbye because we actually love each other. Not just because we should.
- The first of our Christmases is in six weeks. The turkey coma (it was a 30-lb bird!) will have subsided by then. I believe in pacing myself when it comes to gluttony.
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12 comments:
how many families are you?! leave it to beaver, partridge, heh
I was going to compare us to the Bradys, but we're not really a blended family. So the comparison wasn't going to work.
We're basically the sitcom families that get can loud and boisterous but manage to always have heart-to-hearts. You know, the way Full House always concluded with a moral and the live audience going, "Aw...."
You could write a script for a film, and Steve Carrell could play your dad. (He's done the Almighty's already, so he's got the religious slant down in his acting repertoire.)
Lookout tower and city? Have you ever been to Victoria? You would get your combination of city and cottage in that place. Victoria is still my favourite city ever.
Have you only discovered coffee recently? I was in my early 20's before I started to drink coffee. In fact, I think it was through the influence of your parents!! And it was nearly a year before I discovered that they only brewed decaf at night!! And there I was thinking I was some snooty coffee connoiseur, hobnobbing with trendy Vancouver transplants...only to find out the truth! Vancouver? No! Richmond! Transplants? No! Uxbridge! Decaf? AHHHHH! The horrors are flooding my memory!
I am going to the kitchen now for a second, or third, cup of coffee.
Steve Carrell is a genius. He could play all of us.
I have not been to Victoria. This sad fact needs to be remedied. I think I need to head west again.
I managed to survive without coffee until last year. And now it's my bestest friend. But I'm a decaf-at-night girl. Possibly a parental-influence influence, possibly a caffeine-sensitivity thing.
i like your family. if it wasn't totally weird, i would propose marriage to one of your brothers just so I could join it.
Alternatively, you could marry MY brother. Is 19 too young for you?
Also, I HEART crokinole.
Sounds like you had an awesome weekend. The weather was great, wasn't it. I know what you mean about just wanting to trade in the city life to live like that all year long. I just wish Autumn wasn't so short!
Steve Carroll as me... I'm not too sure... I know I'm a little wierd... but...
Michael: transplants... Janice of us is from Uxbridge, I am from the great city of Montreal; decaf was only in the evening
Poetic licence was taken to enforce a point; I knew you were from Montréal, but I had momentarily forgotten.
But it was more of the story of me learning to to drink coffee, not so much of you (pl.) and your origins.
I was thinking more of the Carrell from "Dan in Real Life", and not so much The Office.
And I just noticed, it's Carell, not any of the other incorrect spellings which have been used throughout the comments on this post.
I'll be partly to blame.
Beth, 19 is a little on the young side. Still within my 9-year range, but I tend to go up, not down. For you, however, I have a 23-year-old brother who's single. And a 25-year-old cousin....
Sarah, let's buy neighboring cottages and live in the them. We'll play Scrabble in the afternoons, and I'll write about our adventures as you make jewelry.
I LOVE Steve in "Dan in Real Life." Maybe I'll write the movie version of my life after all. I'm just not sure what genre it will end up being.
And, Michael, I'm very impressionable when it comes to spelling. I also partially blame you :)
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