Rollin With The Rouxs

Hello there!

So what I am hoping to do with this post is give you a little insight into my fun, complicated, and extremely loud life. The main topics of this blog, and what I am hoping you will enjoy the most, would probably be mine and my siblings’ adventures. So to give you a little example of what you are getting yourself into, here is an anecdote:

Me and four of my sisters have a group text that we call Rollin’ With The Rouxs. It may be silly, but we always talk about how cool it would be to have our own reality show and call it Rollin With The Rouxs. Literally every time we are in the house, the car, the mall, the airport, or basically any other place, and something crazy happens, we will all look at each other and say: “This would be such a perfect episode for Rollin With The Rouxs.” Whether it is a fight, a happy moment, exciting news or a trip, we always go back to thinking about how our lives would make such an awesome show. So yeah, you could say we have fun.

So this is how it goes with my family: My mom and dad had me, (Michele), 20 year old. Then my sister Gretel, who is 18 years old. Then Julianne, who is 17 years old, and then the twins. Tatiana and Dominique, who are going to be 15 this May.

We were your average family that lived in a nice neighborhood, had the out of the box Christmas photoshoots, and went out to dinner every Sunday night. We had it good. But when I turned 15 years old, my parents got a divorce, for reasons I will later on discuss in a post all about kids and divorce. Long story short, my mom remarried her high school sweetheart. He had a son from his previous marriage, who is now my stepbrother, but did not have any kids of their own. And my dad married a woman he met in my sister’s horseback riding club. She did not have any kids, so as you all can imagine, they had two more kids. So that brings the count to 7 kids in total. Six girls and one boy. I was 17 years old when Emma (my dad’s and his new wife’s first baby) was born. And 19 when Max (the second baby, a boy) was born. I am not going to grow up with the two new babies the same way I did with my other sisters since we now have to take turns living in each of my parent’s houses, so me and my others sisters dont see them all the time. And also I was in college when Max was born. So even though I am pretty close with Emma since I was here for two years watching her grow up, it has been a little harder with Max. But yeah, this is a little insight into my big family. Having so many siblings can be one of the coolest experiences one can have, but also challenging at times.

Imagine having to agree with 4 to 6 other people on what restaurant to go to dinner. Fighting about clothes with 4 others girls. Imagine having to call a restaurant one week in advance because your reservation has to be for a party of 7, or if we are with my dad, 9. Imagine going to the T.V. room, the dining room, the kitchen, the playroom, and always finding someone there. Never being able to be alone. Or having to take two cars every time you drive down to the beach. Or maybe going on a trip and having to rent four different rooms in order to accomodate all of your family. Now think about going shopping with your mom and everytime you say “Mom, can you buy this for me?” there are four more voices on the backgrund echoing “Me too! Me too” Me too! Me too!”. Being part of such a big family may get tricky sometimes, I am not going to lie. You may find yourself needing your space, but not being able to get it. Or maybe needing some peace and quiet in order to study but there is always something going on outside your room. It might be frustrating having to share your stuff and space with so many people, or having to fight for your parents attention because there are just so many more of us than there are of them. Sometimes you may even feel, specially if you are the older one, that nothing is really yours. They want to take everything. Something as silly as a stolen spot in the sofa could lead to a major breakdown and you end up yelling to your sister for basically no reason. True story.

But I can’t lie. It can be pretty awesome too. Imagine always having someone to talk to or in the younger girls’ case, play with. Imagine having a group of friends that no matter how much you fight, you can’t and simply refuse to live without. Having a sleepover every single night. Or a dinner party every time you go out to eat. Never having to go to the movies alone because all your friends are busy. Imagine never getting bored. Imagine always having someone there for you to pick you up when you need a hand, and not asking anything in return. Or having someone to stand up for you no matter what and no matter against who. Imagine never feeling lonely.

I grew up with my four best friends. I grew up in a house where there was barely any silence and laughs could be heard all across the rooms. I grew up filled with an overhwhelming love that even though sometimes I could not be angrier with one of them, the love never went away. There was always chaos going on. But chaos that filled me with happiness and reminded that I was never going to want for anything in my life as long as I had my sisters. And now I have two baby siblings that keep me young and feel me with love every single time I see them. I thank God every single day for allowing me to have such a rich and amazing childhood. I thank God every day for giving me my sisters. We are best friends, we are a team, and are always, always there for each other. I could not, and would not want to imagine my life without every single one of them. I do not think I would be the person that I am today without my siblings. I am so grateful I have such a big family. Because at the end of the day, all you really need is family. And it does not matter how screwed up, crazy, big, or unconventional my family may be, as long as me and my siblings are together I know for sure everything is going to be okay. I honestly do not believe there is anything better out there than a sister. They keep me young, they feel me with love, but most of all, they make me happy.