Thankful

Today I was talking to my Auntie on the phone and the subject turned to my cousin Kevin and his fiance Dina. They are getting married in a couple of weeks. A running joke in our family has always been that my uncle Ed loves it when people reply no to invitations. Less people to pay for hahaha. So anyway we were talking about how someone replied no and I laughed and said "After 4 weddings we all know how much he loves those No's".


4 weddings. That's something I know he and my aunt never bargained on. 2 extra kids to help plan a wedding for. 2 extra kids to have call them when anything and everything goes wrong. 2 extra bodies at the Inn every Christmas. 

In the hours and days following my mothers death I freaked out over everything. The how, when, where and why. How was I going to take care of myself and my sister? When was I going to get to be a kid? Where would we live? Why, why why did this happen to me? 

And at the end of each and every day in those following hours, days and weeks there was a constant. A phone call that came without question. My aunt or uncle checking in. How are you doing? Do you need anything? 

One night my uncle came over with a file box, some file folders, a calculator and a stapler. He spent countless hours patiently teaching me how to be the head of a household I wasn't ready to head. 

That winter when our heat went out because I had no idea you had to call and order oil, he talked me through it and made sure it was all ok. 

When I was mad about everything and feeling abandoned and sad and angry Auntie was never ever too busy. She always listened and she was always there.

It was a seamless transition for them. They just did it.  They took us in and just like that they had 4. My cousins... oh those boys. They both took it in such stride. They never complained. They never even made a peep that now they had to share their parents. And they too looked out and watched over us. 

4 weddings. 2 girls walked down the aisle on the arm of the most amazing man I have ever had the privilege of knowing. 2 unexpected children that they took in and saved. 4 weddings that they helped fund and plan and in once case they even hosted.


Without them I don't know where I would have ended up. Without them I don't know that I would have come out of the darkest time of my life with only minimal scarring. 


I couldn't be more thankful for the family that I have. For ALL of the people who helped us through that time. For the two people I admire the most in the world. I have the most wonderful family in the world. 

They may not have bargained for 4 weddings but I hope they know how forever grateful I am that they are there, that they have done everything they have for all of us and that we are the luckiest kids in the world. 

Hero: 

1.a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.

2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal:
See below.