siblings

One thing that has been on my mind lately is raising siblings that stick together.  When I think of my own siblings, I remember lots of discord and fighting, but we always stood by each other when we needed it most.

My family and I were at Explora in Albuquerque.  On an outdoor patio, they have a set of life-size linkin logs, where kids could build playhouses just their size!  This was our favorite exhibit, even though it often meant cooperating with other kids.  One particular time, there was this awful bratty kid out there with us.  He kept taking pieces from my little brother, Hunter, who must have been 4 or 5 at the time.  Hunter took it in stride, until he finally got fed up and grabbed a piece back.  Bratty snot-nose kids mother stormed over, furious.  She began screaming at my brother about picking on her son and not sharing.  My mom was inside, chatting and watching from the windows, but she didn't notice what was happening.  I was not going to listen to this lady picking on my little brother because her kid is a jerk!  I walked right up to her, between her and my little brother, and told her to lay off and that her son was the one stealing pieces.  Oooo, that ticked her off.  An epic verbal battle ensued - keep in mind, I knew how to push buttons, I was the oldest daughter and my mission in life was to tick of my mom.

I don't remember everything that was said, but at one point I remember her saying something like "How dare you tell me what to do!  I'm forty years old!"  And I responded, "Congratulations, your old!"  But seriously?  This 40-year-old woman was literally screaming and getting into it with an 11-year-old.  At some point I remember sending Hunter to find mom.  When my mom showed up, she sent me inside (at this point I was in tears) and the lady literally ran after me, screaming, while Mom tried to calm her down and figure out what happened.  It took everything mom had to keep the lady outside while I went inside.  What a crazy lady!

I stand by what I did - I didn't make mature arguments, and I even called her a b**** once, which I'm not proud of.  But every time I think about it, I am proud that I stood up for my little brother.  Even if I said stupid things, she was most definitely in the wrong.

My cousin Becky's wedding

There was a little boy in our church group who was sometimes Hunter's friend, but sometimes just picked on him.  Hunter was always nice, and it pained us to see our tender brother getting trampled on by this punk kid.  On a boys/mens camp out, this kid was laying it on thick and Logan finally had enough.  He walked up to the kids dad and said "You need to control your kid!"  Right to his face!   Oh, that made him furious.  Their whole family pretty much shunned us after that, but in my opinion, it wasn't much of a loss.  We (Logan and I) were happy to get our brother away from such a negative influence.  It was terribly rude, but nobody ever called these parents out on how awful there kid was and sometimes kids can get away with things like that when adults just can't.

Larson Family Reunion at Aspen Grove

When Haley started kindergarten, there was an awful third-grade girl who lived on our street.  We all knew this girl, she was in Kindergarten when I was in fifth grade.  She was nasty to everyone, but especially to kids younger than her.  She was horrible to Haley, on the bus, at the bus stop....finally, Logan had enough when Haley came home crying again.  The next morning, he walked with her to the bus stop.  The nasty girl was already there, and Logan walked over and said, "So I hear you've been picking on my sister."  I don't know what else followed, but I'm positive some verbal threats were involved.  Logan, who is now 6 feet 8 inches tall, was big even then.  Not to mention he was a middle-schooler.  The intimidation worked, and nobody picked on Haley on the bus or at the bus stop after that.

-Summer