I could never imagine life without my six brothers: Tommy, Patrick, Michael, Barry, Daniel, and Seamus. I certainly can\u2019t picture a world without my sisters: Catherine, Theresa, Janey, and Brigid. While we may all look alike, thanks to some good Irish genes, each one of us was uniquely created and brings a diverse array of talents, interests, virtues, and vices to the table. It has been my parents\u2019 role to sort through all of that and to raise us to be the men and women we were created to be.<\/p>\n
A large family necessitates a different kind of lifestyle than a smaller family might have, of course: My parents didn\u2019t take our growing family on exotic vacations, and when I was a child, we had PB&J lunches and spaghetti dinners probably more often than my father and mother would have liked. There isn\u2019t as much room in the budget for going out to eat after sports practice or daytime kid activities. The other big families I have known throughout the course of my life are largely the same.<\/p>\n
I have never wished for anything different. When I think about my childhood, I don\u2019t really even remember the PB&Js, except maybe the 11 I made for an infamous road trip. (The siblings still accuse me of sitting on them. I maintain my innocence.)<\/p>\n
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The author giving piggybacks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
What I do remember is eagerly waiting by the phone with my grandmother and the other kids as my parents called from the hospital to tell us that our ninth child would be a boy (Daniel, who now towers over me at 6\u20193\u2033 and texts me after my TV hits to say, \u201cWell done, Marg\u201d). Believe it or not, I cried that day because I wanted a girl. I got her when my mother had our 10th baby, Brigid, my goddaughter and close friend.<\/p>\n
I remember sitting at the kitchen table with all the siblings, a toddler on my lap as always, as we begged my dad for stories about his childhood in Massachusetts, or standing, at his request, on the brick hearth of our fireplace with my sisters to sing Irish ballads to company.<\/p>\n
I think of our cozy school days all working away in our makeshift classroom, my mom waking us up early to go to daily Mass, hours and hours of sister doll games, swinging the baby to sleep on the play set, and the fun we had teaching the little ones to walk, play games, and propose like Mr. Darcy (jury\u2019s out on that one, but we tried).<\/p>\n
In functioning big families, kids necessarily help out with chores, with babies, and with each other. We each had our designated chores every day, and we did them with gusto. To this day, we help each other review resumes, emails, job applications, middle school papers, you name it.<\/p>\n
Eleven kids means 55 unique relationships between the siblings, and in big families, those relationships hold so many possibilities: the friend, the mentor, the confidante, the babysitter, the tutor, the partner in crime. As we grow older and start families of our own, those relationships necessarily evolve.<\/p>\n
The constant in our lives remains the same: We are the Olohan family, and we will always be there for one another.<\/p>\n
Of course, the life of a big family is not without its crosses. I grew up with a number of large families, including my own, who have dealt with hardship and tragedy. We know that nothing worth having is easily come by, and for my part, I know I\u2019m very lucky to have been given the parents God gave me. As I\u2019m sure my readers are well aware, every family is the product of the caliber of its parents, and mine are made of good stuff.<\/p>\n
Being open to the children God sends you is absolutely a leap of faith. It\u2019s a leap of faith that my parents took and the parents of most big families take. It\u2019s a surrendering of your will, time and time again, and it\u2019s a beautiful sacrifice with a beautiful reward. As my grandmother, the mother of 10, would tell us, \u201cLove multiplies; it never divides.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is why failing to include God in the conversation makes big families doesn\u2019t make any sense. He\u2019s woven into every step of the way.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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