I love my family. I enjoy spending time with them. But as Monk would say, here’s the thing. My parents and brothers make me feel lazy. It’s not like they tell me I’m lazy. It’s just that they do so much.
My father has worked two full time jobs since before I was born. Growing up my brothers would always list two things they wanted to be when folks would ask, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” They just thought it was normal for all men to have two careers.
My parents own their own pool business. They do everything but build pools. Remodels, repairs, tile work, cleaning, acid washes, grout work, deco-seal, etc. My father’s specialty is leak detection and repair. My mother does all the taxes and billing for my thel business. Oh, yeah, and she also picks up supplies and sometimes cleans the pools. She lifts those 25 pound chlorine buckets like I lift a can of Diet Coke.
My father is also extremely athletic. I mean, the man “quit” running around age 50, but a few years later ran his first half marathon. Now he’s into rowing. As in, rowing eighteen miles across Lake Ray Hubbard in a kayak called an OC 6 with five other people three or four times a week. Plus his usual workouts.
My mother is Martha Stewart only nicer. Mom makes the most beautiful bows for packages. At Christmas, she makes Martha Washington Candy, homemade rolls that are to die for, and 20 dozen sugar cookies plus homemade frosting in four different colors. The last two years she also made this incredible crock pot candy. It’s four kinds of chocolate and cashews. Last year I made carmel corn. It was supposed to be for our neighbors, but I ate it all myself.
Mom made Halloween costumes for me. She also made my corsages in high school, and I begged her to make my wedding bouquet. She said no, but eventually gave in. She also made 150 chair covers for my wedding reception.
And then there are my brothers.
From Left to Right: Brother #1, Brother #2 and Brother #3 at my wedding
Brother #1 is a full time student and also works at least two jobs at all times. If he is only working one job, he complains that he is bored. Here’s a direct quote: I don’t want to sleep. It’s a waste of time. I could be doing something like watching TV.
This workaholic became a certified personal trainer over spring break this year. Yes, spring BREAK. He would go to class all day and study all night. It was intense! His response, “I wish my schedule was like this all the time.” So, you know, of course he’s got 5% body fat. And a really great truck. And he wears Rock and Republic jeans with Lacoste polos.
Brother #2 has blonde hair, blue eyes and the perfect tan. He also has an awesome truck. He is extremely athletic. All kinds of sports come naturally to him. As a child, he taught himself how to unicycle backwards on a whim. He is a true redneck. He loves fishing. He works at Bass Pro as a sales clerk and also does wakeboarding demonstrations. Yeah, uh huh. I like wakeboarding, but I’m not doing any tricks on the board like this guy.
Oh, I almost forgot. Brothers 1 and 2 both clean pools as well.
And then there’s Brother #3. The over-achiever. He is about to be a junior in high school. As a child, this particular brother would recreate Civil War battles with Lincoln Logs and quote the D-Day speech that Eisenhower gave. (I had to call and ask him who gave the speech.)
A few years ago, Brother #3 decided that he wanted to go to the Naval Academy and become a Marine officer. So, he does lots of community service, and has made contacts with people who can help him get his appointment. He also became a life guard and joined a swim team this summer.
Brother #3 had to go to summer school this summer because he didn’t have enough hours during the regular semesters to fit in all of the classes he wanted to take. Texas now requires high school students to have four years of science, math and English. Micah is a class officer and he’s doing Cross Country, and oh, yeah, this year he tried out for acapella choir and got in. No, he’s never had choir before or voice lessons or anything. When my husband’s XBox 360 got the red ring of death a few weeks ago, Brother #3 said, “Just take mine home, David. I don’t have time to use it.”
My family makes me feel lazy. I guess if that’s the worst thing I can say about my family, I’m pretty blessed.
Yep! Your family is definitely amazing!! But so are you!!
Cute post. It made me feel like quite the underachiever myself. ha. But that’s great that your family is so industrious. And that they don’t put their expectations on you. I’m sure you’re industrious in your own way; what we invest our time in doesn’t always have visible manifestations.
I bet none of them have a blog as cute as yours.
Thanks, Anne and Lisa! Yes, I really don’t know how I came from such an active family. I only recently discovered exercise. Maybe it’s because I was the only daughter? I was always reading when everyone was working or playing sports.
Ha, ha! Nope! No one else in the family has a blog, but they all know that anything they say to me could possibly end up here!
You’re the one with the megaphone then. Keep them on their toes.
You sweet thing, you have as much or more going for you as your family! “like Martha Stewart only nice.” Hilarious! And what a family to be proud of! But sometimes it is MORE important to rest! Remember the story of Mary and Martha in the Bible… Mary did what was BEST….sat at Jesus’s feet!
Thanks, Kerri. You’ll never believe this, but Brother #1 just found out he’s hosting his own radio show this sememster.