30 day challenge: Day 4....Siblings!

In this day and age, blended families are part of the norm. Even though some of us share the same mom or share the same dad to me it all means the same....FAMILY. 

Now stay with me here as I try to explain how this all works....

When my parents Gerald & Laura were married they had 2 children which is myself and my brother Chris. After their divorce both of my parents remarried. My mom married my Stepdad John and they had 3 children...Tiffany, J.P and Trisha. When my dad married my Stepmom Cindy they also had 2 children...Stephanie and Heather.  Are you still with me? It can get kinda confusing...LOL LOL. So as far as I am concerened I have 4 sisters and 2 brothers. 

Since I was really young I lived with my mom and stepdad due to my parents divorcing. So this means that growing up there were always the 5 of us kids (me,Chris,Tiffany, JP and Trisha). If it was one thing my mom always preached to us it was that our role as siblings should always remain strong. It is so funny how 5 people from the same family can have 5 very different personalities..lol. My sister Tiffany and I were always close growing up, she followed me everywhere. When I was old enough to drive I would take her out for ice cream floats at D.Q.  In the morning I would put on makeup in my room  and she was right there waiting to put some on too. And yes, there was never a dull moment in a family of 5 siblings! Someone was always getting in trouble for something and most of the time it was me. I defiantly had the role of "rebel" in the family! The best part is that we never consider ourselves 1/2 siblings...to us we are equal .

Now back in Corpus Christi my sisters Stephanie and Heather lived with my dad and stepmom. Only on holidays or summer breaks did I really get to see them. So growing up I didn't get a lot of opportunities to spend time with them, which is sad. I was 16 and a Junior in high school when my sister Heather was born! Talk about age gap! lol. There are regrets that I didn't get to have more memories with Stephanie and Heather but this is the problem that goes along with having a divorced family. We lived in another city which  made it hard to visit often. When I moved back to Corpus in 1997 it was nice to be able to see them more. When my girls were born, Stephanie and Heather helped me out tremendously. As we have gotten older, I would like to think our relationships have gotten stronger.

My relationship with my siblings is one of my greatest treasures. I work hard to maintain communication with all of them. Friends can come and go but siblings will always remain. Our family dynamic can be confusing but none the less, it is MY family and I love it this way!