Generations

I first moved back home with my mom in 2001 after a bad break up with an ex boyfriend. Back then it was my sister, her 3 kids and my brother under one roof. A tiny roof at that. She lived in a rented duplex that her sister owned. It had two bedrooms, a make shift bedroom where a dinning room probably would go, with some wooden doors for a little privacy, a living room that was more like a small box where you could fit one couch, an easy chair and a computer table, and a small television. My mom slept in the master bedroom which had a walk-in closet. It was not much bigger then the other bedroom where my sister slept and the kids slept in the dinning room that was converted to a bedroom with bunk beds.
We first moved there after my dad died in 1974 and that is where my mom lived until 2006. I used to tell her she stayed there long enough to own the place. That place had a small kitchen and there were never too many cooks in the kitchen because only two people could fit in there at one time for the most part unless a third person was very, very thin. And in our family nobody was that thin. So, surprisingly the kitchen was not a problem at all. But, the bathroom was. There was always someone in the bathroom when you needed to get in there. One reason I hope my next move will have at least two bathrooms, or a half bath would do too.

When I moved back my son was not born yet. So, I had the pleasure of sleeping on a hot leather couch. One thing, the only thing that was good about that was that I was always warm. But, it was uncomfortable to say the least but that was my only bed for the next 5 years. I never knew I could miss a bed that much until I had to sleep on that couch for all that time. I never took a bed for granted again or a soft pillow. My mom and I got along great most of the time. My mom and my sister not so much they had little arguments over just about everything from raising kids to my sister going out with friends, which she probably did just a little too much. But, she was a young mother and didn't understand that even though she was young and wanted to be out sometimes that my mom was not the type to be a built in babysitter all the time she felt that she was being taken advantage of. And for the most part she was. Hence the arguments. But, over time they came to realize that neither of them would ever change. My sister was not going to change wanting to hang out with her friends and she ultimately had to give my mom more respect and ask if it was okay to leave her kids with my mom before bolting out of the back door. After  that realization it cut down on a lot of arguments and hurt feelings. I didn't have that problem because I had no kids. I was free to come and go as I liked. Or so I thought.

One night, after hanging out with my son's dad, although I didn't know he was going to his dad back then, I came in just after 11pm. I thought it was a reasonable time since I was 38 at the time. My mom had a fit she figured that it was too late for a young woman to be out of the house. I tried to tell her that was perfectly fine and that she didn't have to call every ten seconds and calling all over the world looking for me. We agreed to disagree on that one.

In 2004 I had my first and only child, a son. We were still living in that small duplex and I had added one but my sister subtracted one. Her oldest child graduated from high school and went to Los Angeles to live with his girlfriend all in one night. So, there we were, one family under a little roof but now with a newborn. My mom loved having a baby in the house again. I loved that she loved it. But, basically, I did everything for my son, the getting up every two hours and changing, feeding and strolling him outside just so both of us could get some air. I didn't go out much and on the rare occasions I did get an invitation out I made sure to ask my mom if she wanted to watch him. My nephew would watch him too on occasion. This nephew is the one Josh is very close to. They have a great relationship.

We moved from that tiny house in 2006 to a big house and then in 2008 back to small again. We have survived the good and the bad and the in between together. We will be moving again in 2014 and hopefully we will be in a big place again or at least bigger then this one. But, where ever we go and however we get there one thing will always remain the same, WE ARE FAMILY.