My Siblings...the Longo siblings.

I grew up in my adopted home and there were five children in the family, with myself being the eldest. Next came Jeanne, Debbie, Sachia and Cori Marie. Jeanne, Debbie and I were born with the same birth mother Florence Chartrand, but whereas Jeanne and I had the same birth father, Clifford Parenteau, Debbie's dad was Joe Alec Laquette. We had two more birth siblings but they were taken away and adopted out...Gordon Chartrand and Sonya Laquette. In 1978, I was adopted and then the following year, in 1979, Jeanne and Debbie came to live with us. Mom and Dad tried to have children but to no avail. Three miscarriages were a result, and hard on all of us, and so it was a blessing for Sachia to arrive in 1982. He was such a beautiful baby boy. What I loved was that he had the most wonderful blonde hair, and a good disposition. Then in 1985, Cori Marie arrived and she was dark haired and dark brown, expressive eyes. We were so happy to have the family we did. We all helped to raise the family, and I remember people being surprised that there was 5 of us in the family. Actually considering my adopted mother's ancestry...Mennonite...her Dad came from a family of 17 children, and her Mom from 12 children. But I guess in the 1980's, 5 children seemed a lot.
I used to envy families that had just one or two siblings in them. I used to think they would get more attention. My next door neighbor Ryan, came from a divorced family, with the mother raising the 3 kids. I thought that was cool. I guess I liked anything different.
Nowadays I can reflect, and am so glad to know and love my siblings. They mean the world to me. And I think that, we have become even closer than ever before. Which is not easy sometimes, as things in our lives try to keep us so busy that we forget important things, like family. It's neat when we get together to just chat about our lives, failures, dreams, and reminisce.
I see how my mother is when she gets together with her siblings. She becomes like a different person. Girlish. Funny. She gets into a rhythm with her siblings and their humor. They can sit and just talk and talk and laugh. Sometimes I envy that, but I know that in 20 years, I will be sitting with my siblings and creating memories.
It's funny, that the only time I see many of my cousins are at weddings and funerals. Last year, July 2003, I was at my Auntie Jewel's lavish wedding, and of my 20 first cousins, 11 of us were there. So it was neat and fun to hang out with them, dancing, talking etc. So if that is the way it is with cousins, we lose touch, I have to be extra careful with my own siblings. To not lose touch.

"Remember me with love and smiles, for that is the way I'll remember you, but if you remember me with tears and sadness, then don't remember me at all." This poignant quote is from Little House on the Prairie tv show.