The Blessed Quarantine - Oh, why not?

When I tell people I have three older brothers I get one of two responses. People either say "Oh, how cool, you must have been spoiled and so well protected" or I get "holy cow, what was that like?". The first response usually comes from people who have very little first hand knowledge of the big brother/little sister relationship. The second is usually said with a little bit of disbelief that someone could actually survive this dynamic or at least with a little bit of sympathy. Neither is how I see it.

As is true of most situations, the truth is somewhere in the middle. I was definitely well protected (and perhaps a bit spoiled) but it wasn't in a princess of the castle kind of way. Really, all four of us were (and still are) pretty protective of each other. It's that "I can say that, but you can't. You're not family" sort of protective. My brothers would never, ever let anyone hurt me but they gave me a hard time. They picked on me. They pushed my buttons. The youngest of my brothers once told me "if you want to run with the big boys you need to be ready for what that means". It meant not having thin skin. It meant being able to hold my own in most situations. It meant being able to handle the insanity of living in a house with four children born within 7 years. Yep, you read that correctly, four children within 7 years. In fact, my brothers are all stair steps, all three born within 33 months. It was crazy with lots of moving parts and lots of big personalities. We weren't calm, low key, read in the big chair kind of kids. We were tree climbing, prank pulling, always moving, mud fight (think, snow ball fight, but with mud) having kind of kids. To put it in perspective, my brothers are musicians. From the time I was 6ish there was an actual band that practiced in my house. 

Here's the thing you need to understand, we didn't know this was unusual. We didn't know it was chaotic or wild. We just knew it was our house and it was fun. My parents didn't act like this was weird. As an adult I have asked my mom how she "did it" and she says "I didn't really have another choice, did I? I just did it." That was kind of how our world worked. We just did our life. My mom took it in stride and modeled that. She modeled that insanity was the norm and you simply do it. So I kind of grew up feeling like "oh, why not?" was the way all the houses worked. This mindset came into play recently when we found out schools were going to be closed for several weeks (before we knew we were not returning to the buildings this school year).

For about a year we have been kicking around the idea of getting a puppy. We had to let our beautiful, wonderful, sweet, 11 year old Great Dane, go about three years ago. No one in the house wanted to get another right away, but about a year ago, the idea started to seem like it made more sense. However, we kept feeling like we couldn't give a new pup the time it deserved with work, school and extra-curricular activities on our schedules. Well, the quarantine offered time. Three out of four members of the family are home basically all. the. time. All the time. So the idea came back up. After talking about all the factors with hubby, we finally said "oh, why not?" When are we going to have more time to train and bond with a puppy? When is a reason to get up and go for a walk going to be more important? When is puppy love going to be more needed for everyone? So, we got a puppy. It's not been easy, but it's been fun. He's a great reason to go for a walk, to get up on time, to stop staring at a screen and play ball. The sweet kisses and the little puppy sleeping on the floor under my desk make me smile when it would be really easy to not smile. It would be easy to slip into a miserable funk that made the couch a permanent home for my bottom, but Beta makes that not a thing. 

When we got him, my sister in law and I were chatting (remember we chat a lot and she LOVES animals, so this was news she needed to be a part of) and she pointed that we thrive in chaos. That it's a really awesome family trait to be in the middle of complete insanity and just add that one more thing that makes it a little bit crazier but a lot sweeter. I had never really paid attention to that before, or at least never really thought about it as a positive family trait, but it's true. Our family thrives in chaos. Now, don't get me wrong, thriving in chaos does not mean we never lose our crap. I have lost my crap more than once during this quarantine and I'm sure I'll lose it again, but thriving in chaos means that we know how to pick up the pieces and look for the positive thing happening.

I have always believed that God puts us exactly where we are supposed to be when we are supposed to be there. I believe with all of my being that He uses the people and circumstances of our lives to teach us and to offer us His love. Beta is a perfect match for our family. He has a great personality and loves to play. He is fitting right in, as we all learn each other's quirks. I don't think that's an accident. I don't think it's coincidence that the local animal rescue had exactly the right puppy for us when we decided it was time. I believe that it's God who puts all the pieces together and I believe that it's God who taught our family to embrace the chaos. People say God never gives you more than you can handle. I'm not sure that's true. I believe that God builds you to handle what He knows you will encounter. For us, that meant teaching us to say "oh, why not?" when most people would think getting a puppy in the middle of a pandemic quarantine with no definitive end in sight is simply nuts. 

Beta

One year, my mom made us all Fonzy jackets...because we wanted them and you know why not?

This is probably the most recent picture I have of the four of us. Aren't we a good looking crew? 

We definitely don't look like we would get in any trouble together.