All Quiet

We dropped Ana off at an overnight camp yesterday morning.  Since then, the house has been unnaturally quiet.  It appears that Ana is the bridge in our family as she is either playing with David or playing with Abby, or playing with all three.  David and Abby get along just fine and will sometimes play together without Ana, but they don't have quite as much in common due to the larger age gap.  It is very endearing to see David play down at Abby's level sometimes when he's in the mood.  But he is currently engrossed in books this week.  He started reading the Harry Potter series 6 days ago.  He is now in book 5.  I have to occasionally make him stop reading to go and move some muscles every now and then. 

We pick Ana up tonight.  We're all looking forward to seeing her again and hope she had a great time.  She loved it last year, once she got over her initial burst of emotion when we came to get her.  She cried nearly inconsolably last year for about a half hour when she saw us coming.  Once she got all that pent up emotion out of her system, she was just as happy as ever and chattered nonstop about how much fun she had at camp.

Here's some fun questions that I want to hear about from you:

1.  How did it break down in your family with which sibling(s) you played with most?  For me, I played more with my older brother who was closer in age to me than my older sister.  It wasn't until I was more college age that my sister and my age difference didn't seem to matter anymore.

2.  How do you handle "stressful" situations in your life?  Do you store your emotions until you find a "safe" place, or let it all hang out?  - I was and still am to a certain degree like Ana.  My mom said that I would wait until I got off the bus to come and find her and start crying about something that happened earlier in the day at school. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 14, 2011 at 1:15 PM

    There were five in my family, Beth, Ann, Steve, me (Miriam) and Martha. Eight years between Beth and Martha. I was actually closest to me brother, Steve, who is four years older than I am. I was a bit of a tom boy, and he didn't have any boys to play with. We ended up only two years apart in school after I skipped 6th grade and he was held back in first (dyslexia). We had so much fun together in junior high and high school. I was the only family member to attend his track meets and soccer games (and practices for that matter.). Since no one dared TOUCH me, I was allowed all sorts of priveleges that the other girls, even the cheer leaders, weren't, like riding the team bus (and acting as unofficial team manager, the misogynist athletic director would not let me have the job officially), and going in the tents set up in the middle of the track between events (to play cards). I was friends with all the track team and soccer team, but never dated! No one would ask me out since Steve threatened to break the leg of anyone who tried anything with me! He was built like a Mack truck, so no one dared!

    Now as grownups, I am closest to my oldest sister. My sister Ann and I do not see eye to eye about ANYTHING. My baby sister doesn't have much to do with any family- too busy with husband, kids, and jobs. And my brother's wife kept him away from family for the most part. (It has been a really dysfunctional family for several generations.)

    As far as handling stress, I hold it all in, and rarely let anyone know. In my family it wasn't safe to be vulnerable and there wasn't any emotional support. Then an abusive marriage just reinforced that pattern. A good part of why I am single and don't date. (And why five or six years ago I had a complete meltdown and did not function at all for three months.) I now try to keep my life as stress free as possible by isolating myself from others a lot of the time. Not the best coping skill, but the safest for me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. cldJune 15, 2011 at 9:27 AM

    I don't remember playing with either of my sisters. One was 6 yrs older than me and the other was 4 yrs older. I played with my best friend, Clara who lived next door non-stop!
    I don't know how I handle stress. It depends on who I am around. Sometimes I keep it inside and let people guess what my problem is. With others (my family) I either blow up or cry. Perhaps you could tell the truth of how I handle stress !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

    ReplyDelete
  3. cldJune 16, 2011 at 7:35 AM

    Melissa says I worry ! Probably more than blow-up !

    ReplyDelete

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