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

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.

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