Meet the Family ~

It looks like some new friends have found my blog, so I thought I would take a few minutes and introduce the family, so to speak. 

Walker is my sweetie.  We’ve known each other for nearly thirty years, but we’ve been together as a couple for about eight.   I have two older sisters, an older brother, and a younger brother.  My younger brother moved in with Walker and me in February, when he and his wife decided to separate.  Their divorce became final this month.  Bro has two boys, Cubby and Squeak, who spend a couple nights a week here with us.  My older brother is also getting divorced this month.  He had two kids from his first marriage, a little girl, Diva, from his second marriage, and no kids from his third marriage.  He is currently engaged to Number Four.  She seems to be a sweet lady. 

 

Diva’s parents split up before she was born, and Diva spent a lot of time with me back then.  I had a normal day shift job at that time and my mom was a couple blocks away from me, so really, it was no problem to take care of her between my mom and me.  Diva was a good baby.   I lived in a tiny house with a tiny yard but we had everything we needed.  There was a little park with a playground and a wading pool a block away.  I’d put Baby Diva in her stroller and off we’d go.  I miss those days. 

Walker came back into my life when Diva was about eighteen months old.  She was not thrilled to have him around.  Lucky for me, that only lasted a couple months.  Once she decided he was a good guy, they became fast friends.  They have a standing Saturday morning breakfast date, just the two of them.   Due to some medical issues, Walker and I won’t be having kids of our own.  Diva is pretty much it for us.  We’re very lucky that her parents are so generous with her time, and that so far, Diva still likes hanging out with us.   I try to make the most of every day we spend together.

My oldest sister, Michelle, lives on the other side of Minnesota and we don’t get to see her very often.  She has two boys, too.  They’re older – 17 and 14.  I mostly communicate with them via Facebook, which is pretty much the only reason I do Facebook at all.  My other sister has puppies instead of kids.  We used to take care of them during the day until my cat, Ernie, starting having problems.  The older dog, Baizie, pretty much leaves Ernie alone but the younger one, Lily, thinks of Ernie as an interactive puppy toy.  Ernie wears herself out defending her turf.  Then Lily developed food allergies, so when she’s at our house we have to put Ernie’s food up out of her reach.  Which means it’s out of Ernie’s reach.  Not so good.  So now we run to my sister’s house and take the dogs out when my sister is working late.  I miss having “the girls” over every day.   I miss seeing my sister, too.

 

My mom lives in our neighborhood, on the next block.  She’s retired now, but she keeps pretty busy.   Some days I get out of bed to find her at my dining room table, putting together a jig saw puzzle.  Some days she’s at my computer, surfing the internet.  She likes to travel with us, but physically she sometimes has a hard time getting around.  She’s as independent as they come, though, and rarely asks for help around her house or her yard.  Walker goes over on snowy days, intending to blow out her driveway, only to find it done already.   She’s one tough chick.

My dad passed away over seven years ago.  He lived in New Mexico and we went years between visits.  I didn't think his passing would leave such a big hole in my life.  Walker's family lives in the area, too, and he has a pretty large network of extended family.  Every now and again we make noise about moving somewhere else, but I don't think we'll be going anywhere soon.  There are too many people counting on us.