The Privilege of having Siblings

This is a previous blog that I wrote ten years ago and posted on a different site. I will repost it largely intact. There is a bit of over lap with the Solo blog from Week 27 but in the end I think you will just see that it is really a continuation and a deepening of the story.

My father was Harold Smith.  He was born on August 29th in 1928.  He was the only son of Everett and Lillian Smith.  He had an older sister Lucille who died when she was a child so he did not have the joy of having siblings.  When he married my mother, Leah Anderson, I believe that it was his plan to have a large family right from the start.  Leah had come from a family of eight children and experience a very different upbringing then my father had as an only child. He had a wonderful childhood but no siblings.

My parents had three daughters, Pam, Susan and me in the first 5 years of their marriage and a pause for 5 years.  Dad was establishing himself in the retail business world, first working for JC Penney in Lapeer and then worked for Egglestons in Lapeer and eventually in Romeo.  In 1955, the year that I was born, we moved to the Fritz Subdivision on 29 Mile Road in Romeo.  He was a hard working man who had gotten his business degree and helped to build the Eggleston business before moving on to work with the Mitzeldfeld’s Department store in Rochester, Michigan. During his years at Mitzeldfeld’s the store grew exponentially and became a very large, highly regarded and well known business in a time of small family operations and decades before the “big box stores” of today. It was a busy time with a growing family.

The second half of our family came starting in 1960 with three more children who were born in the next four years. First my sister Sharon came along in March of 1960. By now after 4 girls, he really wanted a son, he would say, “ Leah I really want to have a son.” I remember the Christmas before my brother Mark was born, Dad had bought a model train at Christmas time. It was a Christmas gift for the new baby coming in January according to Dad. If the baby turned out to be another girl, she was going to like trains! Mark was born on January 15^th and was the boy that Dad wanted so badly. Before long he told mom “Mark really needs to have a brother! Every boy needs a brother!” And then their family was complete with the birth of Matt in July of 1964.

Before they knew it they had six of us. They gave us the opportunity that my Dad did not have. We all grew up together and were able to enjoy family experiences time six. Some times it was chaotic and but it was always fun. There was always someone to play with.

There was always someone fight with, wrestle with and cry with when you banged your knee. There was always someone else to blame; “I did not do it!” but you learned quickly to never squeal on each other either. If one got in trouble, we all did! There was always someone to try on your idea with and someone to conspire with. We taught each other things we should do and things we should not do. I think that he knew what he had missed out on by not having a sibling and he made sure that his children would not miss out of the experience.

Every time that I gather with my siblings I am reminded how important it was to my Dad that I had the wonderful sisters and brothers that I have. I am reminded how important it was to him that we were not left alone when he and Mom died. I am reminded how much they loved us and all that they taught us and how much they allow us to learn from each other. I am reminded how important as a family we are to one another. I am reminded that we must as individuals walk the path that is our own life but we do not have to walk it alone. I am reminded that they also gave us the faith in God which will always pull us through every event in our lives.

In 2010, my siblings and I had the privilege of traveling to Denmark and Norway together to visit with family. Most years we gather for a week or more of camping in a campground that we first went to with our parents in the summer 1968. We gather for holidays and for all kinds of family events. We gather because it is important to us.

We know that Mom and Dad are always with us in spirit. We can thank Mom and Dad for giving these six children of theirs the opportunity and the privilege of having one another.

Happy Hunting,

Jan

#52Ancestors