One of those intro things
I've been thinking about doing this for a while now because for the last two years I've had a very small friendslist with people who I've been very honest and open with and who have been through the hardest two years in my life with me and now all of a sudden over the last few months I've made a bunch of new friends who I realize know very little about me because suddenly all I can talk about are those Jonas people.
I didn't want to write a regular intro post because I'm not good at it.
This turned out to be a love letter to my family. It says more than anything else ever could.
I can sum up everything about me, who I am, the most important things to me, everything in these pictures. It's pretty simple, really.
These are the most recent family pictures we have, the last time all six of use were together. Taken by my Aunt Susan in front of our house in Portland, Oregon where we grew up, on October 17th, 2007 the day of the memorial service for our mom.
We lived in San Francisco for six years where everyone but me (Philadelphia) and my sister (NYC) was born.
That's our dad. He died when I was 11. He was a really cool guy, from what I remember and what my aunts and uncles have told me over the years. Yes, he's wearing tye-dyed pants and a Grateful Dead shirt. That first picture was taken at Pride parade in the Castro district where we lived in SF.
This is my mother, Sarah Anne, though everyone called her Sally. She was in her twenties when the first picture was taken, a few years after she went into AA where she stayed until my dad died and she sort of just, I don't know, fell apart. I think about what it must be like to be 39, have six kids between the ages of 2 and 11, no job and suddenly lose your husband. For this reason, and for many many many others, my mother was the strongest person I ever knew.
I took her death really, really hard. I'm still taking it hard.
Sarah Lucy, born two days before my second birthday. My parents named me Lois Anne, after both their mothers. When Sarah started learning to talk, she couldn't say my name and she started calling me Loey. I've gone by it ever since. If you take everything about Sarah, and reverse it, find the exact opposite, you have me. And yet, we're lucky to be very close. She's everything I wish I could be and a lot of things I'm glad I'm not. She's getting married in five weeks to the guy she started dating her freshman year at Connecticut College. My siblings and I have considered him our brother since that summer when he came and spent a week with us.
Robert Anderson Jr. He'll be twenty-four on September 30th. He's named after my dad and he looks everything like him. He's got his same tendency towards workaholism, the same stubbornness. He's also got the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met. It's not an exaggeration to say he's the best guy you'll ever meet. He's in the process of coming out, three years after I was the first person he was comfortable enough to tell. If ever I'm half as strong, brave and fearless as he is, that will be an accomplishment indeed.
Charles Newton Schenck and William John III, Charlie and Willie. Mom wanted to stop at three kids. My dad wanted as many as he could get. He talked her into one more and number four became four and five. They were born with a slew of problems, including iqs that put them at borderline retardation. They have huge hearts and I love them more than anything in the world but right now they are both in deeply in addiction and they are not my favorite people right now. But they are the loves of my life, like the rest of my siblings.
Emily Laura was born when I was eight, after my dad had a vasectomy. OOPS. She just really, really wanted to be birthed. From the minute she was born I said "step aside, she's mine." We joke about how I was the one who raised her, but in a lot of ways she raised me. Don't tell anyone, but she's my favorite. Everyone knows anyway, I've been wrapped around her finger since that picture of me and her was taken the day she was born.
And this is me. I'll be twenty-eight in twenty-one days. I've never had a boyfriend. I don't care to. I've never had energy for anything but my siblings, I've been raising them forever and I think I probably use them as an excuse, but whatever.
I graduated from Hollins University in 2004 with a BA in French that I have yet to put to use. I lived in Paris for a year during my Sophomore to Junior year. Since graduation, I've lived in Portland with my mom, San Francisco, Nashville, Connecticut and now I live in Durham, NC. I want a house full of kids but I don't want to get married. I can't be in Portland right now, it reminds me too much of the things I can't get back but I will raise my kids there.
I have struggled forever with my weight. If I'm being realistic, I will for the rest of my life. I also struggle with depression. Duh.
We have the most gorgeous yellow lab/golden retriever. She was Emily's 12th birthday present and Em named her Lily. She lives with our step-dad now. Which brings me to Mark, the guy my mom married when I was sixteen and the reason I am terrified of men. It's a sore subject, especially since my mom's death when any relationships any of us had with him were basically severed.
I realize that I actually said very little about myself that wasn't related to my siblings and my parents. Obviously I love talking about myself so feel free to ask questions. I LIKE ANSWERING QUESTIONS :)
That's it. Cookies if you actually read this. I just wanted to talk about my gorgeous family.
I didn't want to write a regular intro post because I'm not good at it.
This turned out to be a love letter to my family. It says more than anything else ever could.
I can sum up everything about me, who I am, the most important things to me, everything in these pictures. It's pretty simple, really.
These are the most recent family pictures we have, the last time all six of use were together. Taken by my Aunt Susan in front of our house in Portland, Oregon where we grew up, on October 17th, 2007 the day of the memorial service for our mom.
We lived in San Francisco for six years where everyone but me (Philadelphia) and my sister (NYC) was born.
That's our dad. He died when I was 11. He was a really cool guy, from what I remember and what my aunts and uncles have told me over the years. Yes, he's wearing tye-dyed pants and a Grateful Dead shirt. That first picture was taken at Pride parade in the Castro district where we lived in SF.
This is my mother, Sarah Anne, though everyone called her Sally. She was in her twenties when the first picture was taken, a few years after she went into AA where she stayed until my dad died and she sort of just, I don't know, fell apart. I think about what it must be like to be 39, have six kids between the ages of 2 and 11, no job and suddenly lose your husband. For this reason, and for many many many others, my mother was the strongest person I ever knew.
I took her death really, really hard. I'm still taking it hard.
Sarah Lucy, born two days before my second birthday. My parents named me Lois Anne, after both their mothers. When Sarah started learning to talk, she couldn't say my name and she started calling me Loey. I've gone by it ever since. If you take everything about Sarah, and reverse it, find the exact opposite, you have me. And yet, we're lucky to be very close. She's everything I wish I could be and a lot of things I'm glad I'm not. She's getting married in five weeks to the guy she started dating her freshman year at Connecticut College. My siblings and I have considered him our brother since that summer when he came and spent a week with us.
Robert Anderson Jr. He'll be twenty-four on September 30th. He's named after my dad and he looks everything like him. He's got his same tendency towards workaholism, the same stubbornness. He's also got the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met. It's not an exaggeration to say he's the best guy you'll ever meet. He's in the process of coming out, three years after I was the first person he was comfortable enough to tell. If ever I'm half as strong, brave and fearless as he is, that will be an accomplishment indeed.
Charles Newton Schenck and William John III, Charlie and Willie. Mom wanted to stop at three kids. My dad wanted as many as he could get. He talked her into one more and number four became four and five. They were born with a slew of problems, including iqs that put them at borderline retardation. They have huge hearts and I love them more than anything in the world but right now they are both in deeply in addiction and they are not my favorite people right now. But they are the loves of my life, like the rest of my siblings.
Emily Laura was born when I was eight, after my dad had a vasectomy. OOPS. She just really, really wanted to be birthed. From the minute she was born I said "step aside, she's mine." We joke about how I was the one who raised her, but in a lot of ways she raised me. Don't tell anyone, but she's my favorite. Everyone knows anyway, I've been wrapped around her finger since that picture of me and her was taken the day she was born.
And this is me. I'll be twenty-eight in twenty-one days. I've never had a boyfriend. I don't care to. I've never had energy for anything but my siblings, I've been raising them forever and I think I probably use them as an excuse, but whatever.
I graduated from Hollins University in 2004 with a BA in French that I have yet to put to use. I lived in Paris for a year during my Sophomore to Junior year. Since graduation, I've lived in Portland with my mom, San Francisco, Nashville, Connecticut and now I live in Durham, NC. I want a house full of kids but I don't want to get married. I can't be in Portland right now, it reminds me too much of the things I can't get back but I will raise my kids there.
I have struggled forever with my weight. If I'm being realistic, I will for the rest of my life. I also struggle with depression. Duh.
We have the most gorgeous yellow lab/golden retriever. She was Emily's 12th birthday present and Em named her Lily. She lives with our step-dad now. Which brings me to Mark, the guy my mom married when I was sixteen and the reason I am terrified of men. It's a sore subject, especially since my mom's death when any relationships any of us had with him were basically severed.
I realize that I actually said very little about myself that wasn't related to my siblings and my parents. Obviously I love talking about myself so feel free to ask questions. I LIKE ANSWERING QUESTIONS :)
That's it. Cookies if you actually read this. I just wanted to talk about my gorgeous family.