I spent some time with my older sister, Kim, and her four children. She has all girls, and lost her son when he was 2. Luke died from the flu winter of 2003. Our family will forever be changed, but that doesn't always have to be a bad thing. Don't get me wrong, losing Luke was the worst thing our whole family has ever gone through. You are not supposed to have a child die first, we the parents are to go to heaven before them. But, for some reason God took Luke first. Kim and her husband, Mark, have changed, some for the better and some for the worst. But I have no idea what it is like to have your son taken away so soon, and I don't judge. But "Big Sisters" never seem to stop telling "Little Sisters" what to do.
I took my three younger children, Joe, Allie, and Sarah-Kate to Iowa to meet up with Kim and her four children. Kim is three years older than me, but I did almost everything first. I got married before she did, I had a baby before her, and I went through a major illness (which she has never gone through and I pray never will). My children are older than her children. I have a 23 year old boy, a 17 year old daughter, a daughter who is 13, and son who is 11 year old. Her girls range in ages from 13 - 4 years old. My children have put my husband and I through so much it is almost sad. But I have emotionally grown up, and learned so much from all of it. That is what Kim doesn't see, that I am a 41 year old mother, wife, and woman. And this drives me crazy!!!!!
I don't know if this is how it is with all older sisters, I am the youngest child in our family. I know Kim has a HUGE heart, and she bosses me around with the best intentions. She would never deliberately hurt me, ever. I know that, and love that about her...but sometimes she makes my head spin. She will ask me about this kid or that kid is doing, and I tell her what is going on knowing the whole time I am setting myself up for a lecture. Then it starts...."Well Kristen, you know you have to do this or that because of this or that". I don't even argue anymore, I let it slide because it isn't worth fighting about. I actually take it as a compliment, this is one of Kim's way she shows she loves me. I like to know that my sister has my back if I ever needed her. She is a very comforting thought to me. I love her and her family dearly.
Kim has these funny things she does to her kids that are very smart, but I have to laugh. For instance, if any of her children go outside for anything, they get lathered up with sunscreen. I'm not talking one sunscreen I am talking two different kinds and lots of it. She puts it on herself and her face looks like a clown for a good 5 minutes. It will truly take her about 5 minutes to rub it all in. And she does the same with her girls. This is such a routine for them that now Kim will put a bunch on their faces and not even rub it in. Her girls are getting older and she thinks they will rub it in. Little does she know that they don't. And when we were together one of her daughters laughed and said, "I'm not going to rub it in Aunt Kris. I'm going to leave them like dots so my sunburn will look cool". As an Aunt to these beautiful girls I should help them rub it in, but I can't. I just can't! I love to see Kim go berserk. So I'm laughing, and when I do Kim pops her head up to see what's going on. Then she gets mad she will say, "Kris, Rach, Tess, whoever you are just stop it!" Usually by the second wrong name we help her out and give her the correct person's name she is yelling at. Which make it all the more hysterical.
All nine of us were at dinner at a place called, "Machine Shed" in Iowa. Now keep in mind Kim lives in Chicago, and the slow country life doesn't sit well with her. We ordered our food and it took about 15 minutes to get. Fine right? Nope, at about 10 minutes she was asking where our food was. No one was in a hurry, but Kim's infamous words were said, "My kids are starting to loose it". She says that a lot!
So, finally the food comes, we are eating dinner and I get out my fancy phone that has an App for a Whoopi Cushion. I start pressing the phone and these great & loud fart noises start up. People in the restaurant are starting to give us unkind looks. My kids, myself, and 3 out of the four girls are laughing. So we blame my son, Joe, for farting. Kim has a "talkin to" with him. She is saying stuff like how her girls are impressionable and she wants them to learn how to act in a restaurant. But the sounds keep coming and we are even laughing harder because Kim's lecturing Joe on manners. All the while her kids are running from chair to chair, and Tessa's, 4, in her booster seat that is connected with her chair tips over on the side and crashes to the floor. Then Kim tells us we have to go NOW. That was probably one of the funniest things that happened on this two day trip.
I love my sister with all of my heart and feel blessed to be able to call her my sister. Her husband and daughters mean the world to me. And Luke will be waiting for us in heaven, and until then I will love him like crazy. A family wouldn't be a family if no one cared, if roles weren't established, if the younger kids weren't bossed around by the older kids, and if in the present you can all laugh about the past and then dream together about the future. God will always be my first priority and second is my husband, and then the rest of me goes to my family. We always have each others back, and are always ready to correct each others children. Because correcting our own children isn't half as fun as correcting others.
