Now here’s something you should know about me, and it will explain my WordPress moniker: I am one of seven sisters. The reason I feel compelled to post this today is because three sisters were born in the month of March. Here’s to them! As soon as I get my Flickr account figured out, I intend to upload photos to this space and display vintage photos of my sisters and our cousins. We also have five brothers. And innumerable cousins. An even dozen children in the family. I read recently in a pamphlet that I picked up at the cathedral in Speyer that the number twelve is the symbol of perfection. There are twelve months in the year, twelve signs to the zodiac, twelve disciples in the bible, twelve times two hours to the day. But no one has ever been able to explain how the birth order works in a family of this magnitude. We have one firstborn, one baby, and ten in the middle. Does that make us all sandwich children? I don’t think so. We were born in clusters. Or gangs.
However. In Germany, eggs are sold in cartons of ten, not twelve.
7 Comments
We need to hear more about living in a family of 12, Angela! How did those gangs/clusters work?
For starters, the three sisters in the middle (numbers 6, 7, and eight) were and continue to be a powerful triumvirate. I will continue to blog on this topic in the coming months – it is inexhaustible!
There were two questions to be answered when a new arrival showed up: what to call it and where to put it!!
Firstborn – Michael
This is the kind of family lore that people like Charlotte want to hear. Any more?
I am No.6 that Angela refers to. Everything I know about planning, scheduling and establishing procedures I learned at home, watching our mother orchestrate life in a big family with skill and patience. Mom was, and continues to be, a wonderful role model and an inspiration. Dad taught us to love music and language and nature. Together, they were a wonderful team.
I am the second of the seven sisters; fourth in birth order. When the baby next down to me was born, Dad told us all about the new baby who was coming to stay. Many times he told me that my response was “What are we going to do with the old baby??”
Catherine
Here we go, everyone is weighing in. Seems I didn’t inherit what Sixth Born did from our mom – planning, scheduling and procedural skills. But I did learn to knit and sew!