One of Eight

The other day I spent my day "off" driving 850 miles so that I could pick up two of my siblings from college. It was an epic journey. I closed the store the night before, so I didn't make it up 'til 10:30, to bed 'til 2AM, and I was up at 6 AM. Once I got there, we managed to cram two college students' stuff into one mid sized sedan. We managed--but barely. My sister managed to squeeze her petite self into one third of a seat, my brother made the trip with a slew of bags on his lap, and I was surrounded with a halo of packed "stuff". 

We angered a lady at the gas station (I cut her off, but I wasn't about to try to maneuver into a tight slot when I couldn't see out my windows). We managed to almost die on the grapevine heading north--it's really hard to brake while going downhill at 80 miles an hour. And my brother kept reminding me that I couldn't sleep and drive.

But it was so fun. Amazing fun.

A few days later it was Mother's Day, and after I finished my shift, I spent two hours with my mama and eight siblings. We ate discounted Chilli's, laughed as we tried to take pictures, and elicited stares as we walked around the mall in one great pack. 

My siblings and I are like pieces of a puzzle. When we're together, we manifest different traits, strengths, and weaknesses of our parents, and throw in a flair of individuality. We're born girl, boy, girl, boy, etc, so each sister has a brother, and each brother a sister. In this picture you can see the camaraderie we share, the squabbles between who is taller (number 3 is the family midget) and just how much we love being together.

I love my siblings. I couldn't live life without them.