My friend kmb (cheshirecat13) has 6 little brothers and sisters, all under 8. She gets no peace and basically no privacy or time to herself. Even though 4 kids are at her mom’s plus her and then she goes to her dad’s with 2 kids, it’s really really hard on her. I remember the first time she came to my house. I only have an older brother who is never home, so it is always quiet and peaceful at my house (except when me and my mom are screaming) and she wasn’t talking. i asked what was wrong and she said, “it’s so quiet.” i don’t think that she ever heard anything that quiet (that makes sense) Then, I went to D.C. with her, 1 sister, 1 brother, her mom and stepdad, aunt, uncle and 3 cousins (all under 10) Well let’s say that was an experience i’ll never forget. The second day was hot and we went kinda downtownish or whatever and then couldn’t get the right metro back, then the kids wanted ice cream, and they couldn’t find ice cream, then kmb’s mom wanted dip n dots, so there was a stand all the way really far away and we managed to make it there before anyone killed someone else. All the while i felt totally invading in on their family, and i totally don’t know what to do except keep kmb from strangling all other 9 people. so anyway, we make it back across town to dip n dots where kmb totally flipped. She got her opinion in and that was the worst thing ever. She was grumpy and grumbling the whole time to me, the she started to tell her mom what she thought. well, that didn’t go over to well. so kmb’s mom went back to the hotel while everybody else was soooo mad at each other and everybody hated kmb (except the kids who were happy cuz they got their ice cream) kmb’s mom was back napping, me, kmb, her aunt and 2 cousins sat under a tree in a park and chilled. The rest went into some art museum, which was the last thing that i wanted to look at. i mean a bunch of other people’s scribble taht didnt look like anything but a pre schooler with a both of crayons and have people tell me it was a beautiful scene that was worth a few milion. yeah… not what i wanted to do. so i chilled kmb out, and everybody else cooled down in their own way. we went back to the hotel after at least 2 hours of cool down. every body was still stewing at each other, but they didn’t interact so it was okay. I learned just what 10 very very ANGRY family members could do. but i know that kmb loves her family and has leasrned to put up with them through the worst. How she does it without me i don’t know, but she does (but i do get a lot of phone calls) in the end they were all family and enjoyed the last of their family vaca plus me.
