Big Families

My sister wrote a great piece (in her great new blog) about what it's like to grow up in a big family. There are 4 kids in our family, and I always felt like it was a big family. For example, we always had a station wagon or a van. When we went out to eat, which wasn't that often, we had to wait forever for them to get a table big enough. People would always ask my parents, "Are those all yours?" Being the nerd that I am, I tried to look at a census report to see what the average family is now. Turns out it's really confusing. The reports are broken down by 2 parents, 1 parent, people who aren't related living with you, parents who live together but aren't married, etc. America is such a hodge podge of people! Just watch the Olympics if you don't believe me. The first night I sat down to watch gymnastics I was so confused because the American team consisted of a Chinese-American person, an Indian-American person, and a Russian-American person. So just as the average American isn't necessarily blonde and named John (although I know a lot of blonde Johns and have actually dated a few), the average family definitely is not a married man and woman with 2 kids and a dog, all living in the same house. That being said, it looked like the average household consists of 3.13 people--including the adults. So a couple with 2 kids is now a big family. People already ask me things like, "Don't you know how to stop having kids?" or "Have you heard of birth control?" Of course I have. Here's the scoop for all those who are wondering... I LOVE big families. I hope mine gets bigger someday. It's worth being a little broke and not having a career for a while...even having to wait while the restaurant workers push tables together so we can all sit together. As long as each one feels valued, cherished, known, and has enough food to eat (and I'm still mostly pleasant to be around), I don't think I can have too many. This may change tomorrow when everyone's actually awake...ha.