Here's the Story of a Lovely Lady...

We've spent the past three months introducing Vivian to her various family members.  I thought I would take some time to introduce you to them as well.  You've pretty much already met my grandparents, one of my aunts, and Bernie's side of the family.  Here is my side.  We are kind of like the Brady Brunch except slightly more dysfunctional.  The other inspiration for this post is that we are currently at Sesame Place (I'm sure I'll be writing about that soon).  One of the songs that managed to get stuck in my head is, "Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood." This is just a variation - sing along with me: Who are the people in your family? 

This is my mom.  She is very pretty, although you wouldn't know it from any of the pictures I have of her because she is always looking down.  She is the Pastor of a Lutheran Church.  In her spare time, she helps build boats as a volunteer.  That's right, she's smart, and philosphical, creative, organized, and she knows how to use powertools. She is the family's most eligible bachelorette. Drop me an email if you are interested, once you undergo a rigorous screening process, I may decide to pass your information on to her.

This is my Dad. He works for TMW Systems, a company that (at least in part) helps companies cut costs by determining the most efficient means of getting product delivered.  When he isn't working (which isn't often - I inherited that "workaholic" gene from him), he is playing golf or guitar and volunteering with the Western New York Blues Society.

My parents had three kids, of which I am the oldest.  My sister, Gayle (shown below), is the middle child.  She is a Patient Care Tech at Day Kimball Hospital. She loves to play the flute and is very good, but I am not sure she has much time for that these days.  She volunteers with the Putnam Little League.  She has wanted to be a nurse for as long as I can remember, and would be very good at that profession.  Hopefully soon, she will find the time and resources to make that dream come true. The world could use more nurses with Gayle's patience, attention to detail, and compassion.

Brian is the baby of the three of us.  He works for the State of Connecticut caring for adults with developmental disabilities.  In his free time, you can often find Brian on-line playing video games with Nick.   He loves baseball and is a talented writer, though I am not sure he would admit that. He seems to always be attending a minor league baseball game or women's basketball game.  Why he hasn't yet finished his degree and become a journalist for ESPN is something I don't quite understand. I guess many of us fall into jobs for various reasons most of which have little to do with what we are actually passionate about.

Gayle is married to Phil, also known as "Mr. Mom." His abilities are somewhat limited by a condition known as tunnel vision. Gayle has always worked and Phil has managed the homefront. He enjoys helping out with the Putnam Little League, listening to 80s hair bands, and racing (NASCAR?) online. Phil hasn't met Vivian yet, so here is a picture from last summer.

Gayle and Phil have four awesome kids: Jessica, Colin, Tyler, and Kerrigan. 

Jessica is my sister's stepdaughter and is the same age and grade as Nicholas.  She also not had a chance to meet Vivian and I haven't seen her for awhile, so I stole this picture from her Facebook page.

Colin and Tyler are twins and are 12. Colin is a few minutes older than his brother.  Tyler was born with a congenital heart defect (the subject of a past blog). They both love baseball and the Redsox.  This is Colin:

This is Tyler:

 

 Here is Kerrigan.  Kerri is almost 9 and loves holding Vivian and playing with Jack. She is going to be a terrific babysitter in a few more years.

Brian is gearing up for his November wedding to Gina.  Gina is an artist. I have yet to be able to attend one of her art shows but I hope to do so in the near future.  When she isn't painting, she is teaching at a Montessori preschool. In her free time, she enjoys mining for diamonds in Herkimer, NY and attending renaissance fairs.

Brian's stepson Codi is 11, and seems to play a sport every season whether it is baseball or basketball. Codi has not yet met Vivian either, and we haven't seen him in over a year (but hopefully we will soon), so here is a picture my brother sent me:

My Dad, married Arleen, my stepmother, almost ten years ago.  Arleen has four children: Lindsey, Meredith, Caitlin, and TJ. She retired from teaching a few years ago.  She was at one point in her life paralyzed from an accident, but she worked her way back and has since completed several half marathons, and at least one full marathon. She is a personal trainer. When she isn't out running, she is knitting. This is Arleen with my Dad, Vivian and Regan (we'll get to Regan in a little bit):

 

Since you really can't see her here, here is a picture taken at my grandparents' house in the last year or so:

 

Arleen's oldest is Lindsey.  Lindsey is also an attorney and works for Adobe. She has played professional women's football and currently participates in roller derby.  She is getting married in September.  Unfortunately, I have not seen her since my dad and Arleen got married; so here is her Facebook profile picture:

As an aside, I do sometimes talk about "Lindsey", but its usually my cousin Lindsey in Georgia who is my Aunt Kelly and Uncle Rich's daughter. I'd post a picture of that Lindsey here (since I do have one with Vivian), but as a condition of taking the picture, she made me promise I would not share it, so I won't.

In addition to having two Lindseys, we also have two sets of twins in my family (actually 3 if you count my cousin Kenny's daughters). Arleen's middle two daughters Caitlin and Meredith are twins. I always look forward to spending time with them when I visit Dad and Arleen, and definitely consider them to be my sisters. Caitlin works for Homeland Security - seriously - don't mess with her! I don't have a picure of her with Vivian, but I do have one of her with Jack (he is trying to convince her to make a painting with him at the Lewiston art show last weekend - which she did):

 

 Since you really can't see her in this picture, here is one of her and her boyfriend Kenny from last summer when I went to Buffalo for Meredith's babyshower, and to escape Hurricane Irene. Kenny is a chef by trade. Aren't they cute?

 

This is Meredith.  I took this picture at her baby shower, and she was even beautiful when pregnant (not many of us are - LOL). She works at Time Warner Cable. I am embarassed to admit that I don't know what she actually does there, but I do know that she was recently promoted and will be hopefully coming to visit us in September in connection with a business trip.  Her nickname is "mom-zilla" but that is totally not fair, she is a great mom to little Regan.

 

 This is Meredith's Fiancee' Chris, also known as "Saint Christopher." Like Meredith, he works at Time Warner. I  believe he is a computer geek by trade. He likes to play golf and drink beer.  He and Meredith did meet Vivian last weekend.  In fact, we were at their house, but somehow I did not manage to get pictures.  This is one of Chris from last summer.   

 

 

This is Meredith and Chris' daughter is Regan.  She is adorable (as you can tell by this picture). She will be one in October, and is the closest cousin in age to Vivian. I hope that they will grow up to be good friends.  They were very interested in each other last weekend.

 

 

Last, but certainly not least, is TJ.  While I haven't seen TJ in quite sometime (long enough where I had to steal his picture from Facebook), he almost singlehandedly saved my wedding reception from sudden doom by downloading music I wanted (the DJ didn't bring it). TJ works at Starbucks and will be attending Pitt in the fall. Here he is with his girlfriend Laura, whom I hope to meet at some point in the near future.

 

That's it!  That is my family.