The fun thing about being the youngest of six kids is that you have built-in playmates ready and waiting for you. I was born and instantly became their real live doll... apparently I talked and walked earlier than my other siblings, but mother says it's because I had five little kids constantly trying to teach me new tricks.
Maybe they should be trying to train Riley for me.
This is a picture of my sister Janette and me when I was little. She had changed my clothes so we were wearing matching checked outfits and doo-rags... and it looks like I wasn't complaining a bit about the attention. Janette's been a fun and loving sister in so many ways ... but she also thoroughly enjoyed being the older one who could get me to do just about anything.
She would be in the bathroom upstairs doing her hair and would yell for me... I'd go running up the stairs to see what she needed and she'd casually ask me to get her hairbrush from the next room. And like an idiot, I'd do it. And it took nothing more than a "Hey, I'll time you..." to get me to fetch anything that came to her mind.
She also liked spinning tall tales to prove that she could pull anything over on her little sister.
Like the time Dad had been welding and wasn't wearing that protective mask, so he hurt his eyes in the process. She woke me up that morning and very gravely told me that dad had an accident and burned his eyeballs out of his head. I didn't believe her and went running into his bedroom where he was laying in bed with a cold washrag over his (what I was assuming to be hallow empty sockets instead of) eyes and I FREAKED OUT.
Or another time when she pulled me into the laundry room so she could talk to me about the fact that she was really my mother. She told me she was too young to have a child - that it would have been scandalous - and so mom and dad had to step in and raise me as their own. Of course, if I had known about the birds and the bees I would have been able to calculate that the five year age difference didn't really make that feasible, but at the time I believed her and I FREAKED OUT.
Of course, she'd also help me make covers for my school books every year and taught me how to make the cool rainbow design around my name on the front. She'd hide with me at the top of the stairs and help me scare our brothers after an episode of The Incredible Hulk, and she was always up for goofing around the house, playing Barbies and just plain being silly.
But I still totally blame my being gullible on her and all of her tall tales... which is why I've completely given up answering the phone on April Fools Day.
So here's your Question for the Day: Which one are you... the gullible one or the one who spins the crazy stories to see what you can get people to believe?
[Amy, if you're reading this: We've already covered which category you fall under in last week's flashback!]
So fun. I love Flashback Friday!
ReplyDeleteHere's the funny thing. My big brother did it to me, and I did it to my little brother who was so frigging smart that he could do it to me at a VERY young age. His method is to pretend that he is confused about something to get me on a kick of explaining it to him. He waits until I'm completely frustrated with the whole argument and then he just grins that big grin at me and his blue eyes sparkle...
and I want to stab him in the knee with a pencil all over again.
But I love him dearly. I'm crazy about him.
i'm definitely more gullible than creatively spinning...
ReplyDeleteHi Sara,
ReplyDeleteI posted yesterday under "anonymous" because I
couldn't figure out any other way to comment. I must be doing something wrong.
I'm the gullible one. With 6 girls and 2 boys in my family I always had a roomate. For a while, it was my older sister, by four years. I slept on the side of the bed up against the wall and there was some kind of panel on that wall. My sister used to tell me that ghosts were behind there, locked up. When I asked her about it years later she, of course, denied ever saying such a thing.
Now, my husband of 25 years, gets me every time. It's his ability to keep such a straight face.
Cindy
"(I told you my brain would take you there eventually.)" I'm quoting you here! Your BRAIN and heart, spirit and wit just keep amazing me. I usually see your comments to MckMamma and you are TOO clever! "..all-you-can-eat buffets. That might include apple crisp." How do you remember EVERYTHING?
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna keep telling you I'm amazed and delighted EVERY time you comment!
So THERE from the Seattle area!
Your fan, Michal
I'm the oldest and totally , gullible, I was a pretty mean big sister, my baby sis will attest to that, but I never told her tall tales. Actually my kids don't do that either...but I have this pesky soon to be son in law, Darren, who just straight up lies all the time and I swear I've yet NOT to fall for it!
ReplyDeleteMy 4 older sister would say I'm the gullible and SPOILED one. When I was little they would dress me up in a wig and extra large bra and have a good laugh. Now I fit into that bra....who's having the last laugh now!!!!! Just kidding:)
ReplyDeleteSara,
ReplyDeleteWell, I would have to say that I'm the..."one who spins the crazy stories to see what you can get people to believe!" Yep, sad, but true! I'm always pulling one over on my mom, sister and some of my friends. Of course, I do it out of LOVE, I promise!!! I think I should also add that I don't always think it's my fault for being that way, because my dad is the EXACT same way. In fact, most people think we're clones of each other...well, almost...I'm the girl, he's the..., I think you get it!!
Anyways, super fun post!! :) Have a terrific day!
Love,
Jess :)
P.S. How do you like the "fame" you just received from MckMama?! Pretty sweet, sister!
Too funny!
ReplyDeleteI think I was like you. I fell for a lot of stuff. My older brother, by 5 years, always tried to convince me that I was adopted. Then he tried to tell me we had an older brother/sister somewhere in the world.
Great story!
ReplyDeleteI am the one who spun the crazy stories. Perhaps it goes along with being the oldest?
I used to pretend I was going blind to freak my brother out. He fell for it repeatedly. I had him in tears. Awful, I know! I was probably 10 and he was 7.
My mother was the best story-spinner in our family and I fell for a lot of it for awhile as did my brother. I think he eventually got the best of her the April Fools day he called and said that her newest granddaughter had come 3 weeks early... and mom didn't believe him for the longest time... she finally called me for verification knowing she'd blown her cool composure by having to ask me.
ReplyDeleteI think you were about the cutest doll-baby I have ever seen!
Oh my gosh. This all needs to go into a novel. Hilarious material right here. I didnt do that to my little sisters, I mostly just wanted them to go away. BUT, my aunt told my mom (when they were children) that the ocean was salty b/c the fish spit in it. How's that for a crazy story? :)
ReplyDeleteI'm the spinner! My brother is ten years younger...Oh, the joy!!
ReplyDeleteso funny. You are the youngest of six, and I am the oldest. Hmmmmmm, I wonder which one of us got the raw of the deal on that one??? ;)
ReplyDeleteNumber 2 of five, here.
ReplyDeleteMy older sister would tell us stories and she still swears she didn't. Luckily I have a cousin who was almost always witness to her stories. Usually they were just absolute fiction but could have been real. Like the story about the ghost in the closet that was stabbed to death. I was always afraid of closets, under the bed, in the basement... you get the picture. She absolutely swears she would never have told me that. And she actually believes herself.
But cousin T knows.
I just love the picture of the two little girls. What a great smile you had even back then.
ReplyDeleteI can tell you the moment I stopped being gullible. One day when I was 7 or 8 I was sick. When the doctor came over, yes they made house calls back then, I was afraid he was going to stick me with a needle.
My mother told me not to worry and relax, and then he stuck me with a needle. I swear it must have been a foot long. :)
If you talk to my ex-girlfriends they might tell you I am someone who spins crazy stories. Don't believe them. I have never told a lie, honest.
Now I have some swamp land in Florida I'd would like to sell you. :)
In my family, it was just me and my brother ... and he was the gullible one! Once, when he was about 16, my parents went away for the weekend. Knowing full well that he would want to have a party, I kept lying every time he asked where they were. I started with "out to dinner", went on to "the grocery store", etc. etc. ALL WEEKEND LONG and he NEVER KNEW THEY WERE AWAY! Every night when he came home he just assumed they were asleep already. We STILL laugh about that one!
ReplyDeleteMy sister is 4 1/2 years older than me, but I've pretty much always been able to tell when she's fibbing. My dad is another story. He's a college professor and knew my Academic Advisor. I'd had a lot of trouble getting the classes I needed my last 2 semesters, but finally got them scheduled. He told me on April Fools that he had run into my advisor in the parking lot the day before and he had told him the curriculum had changed and I had a least another year before I could graduate. I was almost in tears before he told me April Fools...and I've never let him live that down. He gets everyone in my family almost every year!
ReplyDeleteI'm a mix of both, however definately 80% gullible and 20% the storyteller. And let me just say that my storytelling skills only last about 2.5 seconds because I can't keep a straight face. I try. LOL!
ReplyDeleteI do have a plan for April Fools Day this year though. Wanna know? Okay good I'm glad you asked. ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy neighbor friend is pregnant. I'm going to go buy two pregnancy tests and have her pee on one. Then I'm going to hid it in the bathroom and tell Jake I'm late for my *ahem* period. I'll show him that I bought a box with just ONE test in it and then I'll go into the bathroom and "do my business" and stash the unused one. I'll pull out the POSITIVE one and give it to him. heehee OR, to make it even better (although slightly more gross) I might have her come over and pee in a cup and leave it under the sink, dip it in that, and have HIM watch the positive lines appear. HAHAHA!! heehee I'm so excited.
I just started reading your blog and you've got me as a permanent follower now. This post made me laugh out loud because you were describing my two daughters, ages 5 and 3. Especially the hair brush incident. I can even picture the stories my oldest will be telling my youngest in the coming years. Thanks for making me laugh.
ReplyDeletegullible. yup
ReplyDeletei can NOT believe she told you she was your mother! that is CLASS-ICK!!!!
ReplyDeleteand you falling for it??? class-icker!
of the two. i can be both. the agitator of stories and the gullible one.
i prefer the first one tho!