My whole life I've been the runt. I say this laughingly now, but you can be sure that for the majority of my adolescence I believed it was anything but funny. Growing up in Ohio I was the smallest in my family, smallest in my class--and at several points, the smallest in my school. I was always called "skinny," a word I detest to this day, and my pale, knobby "chicken legs" made me self-conscious to wear anything that wasn't ankle length, especially if gym shoes were involved. As a teen, I remember my dad once telling me that we're just a family of late bloomers. The thought provided little comfort at the time, but being as how I take after him genetically, it stuck with me. It wasn't until adulthood when we starting taking our children west to visit my dad's family that I really understood what he meant. My dad grew up in Modesto, California and moved to Ohio in his late teens to try something different. He left behind his mother (a Denlinger), his dad (a Brubaker), and four brothers and sisters. Since the 1980's his side of the family has grown exponentially. And I mean that for real. My grandparents currently have 16 grandchildren and 22.5 great grandchildren (one is still cookin')--and only six grandchildren have started making babies! Looking back at the family tree, my Great Grandpa Ira Denlinger was a handsome fella with a bone structure that has dominated his offspring for generations. Among these traits are long arms, a high metabolism, the "Denlinger bump" on the back of the skull, and knobby knees, ankles, wrists, and elbows. Most importantly are the famous "Denlinger Toes," which hilariously become a source of familial competition among those who have been blessed with them. (Who has the longest toes? Whose toes are the boniest? Is your middle toe longer than the one next to it? Are they even "real" Denlinger toes or are they a bit too chubby?)
As he grew, he was meeting milestones, but growth was slow. He always has remained in the low 0-5% percentile on growth charts, and for the majority of his early years doctors would hound me to do testing for any abnormalities. I stuck to my guns: why subject him to testing like something is "wrong" with him when common sense tells us genetics are alive and well in this child? With all of that background in mind, let me tell you about our visit to see my Aunt Karen and Uncle Jamie's family in eastern Washington. Dad's younger sister, Karen, had five children, and already has eighteen grandchildren, ranging from 16 years to 3 months, likely with more to come. Their family is eyebrow deep in big time agriculture. On top of a hill overlooking fields of peppermint and echinacea, a peach and pear orchard, and dusty lots full of big farm machinery, sits my aunt and uncle's cozy and beautiful home. For four nights, we parked our RV behind their shop, with views of their manicured green yard and minty fields right out our window. As a special treat, one of my cousins and her children drove up from Oregon to spend a few days with us. I hadn't seen my cousin, who travels the world as a missionary, in over twenty-five years. (It always seemed that if she was home, we were overseas and vice versa.) All of the kids played outside, rode around on the golf cart, and swam in the creek. I was just a tad embarrassed when Brickhead inspired my cousin's oldest daughter (age 6), then his sister, to climb to the top of the gazebo. (We'll file that under "things you never thought you'd have to tell your son not to do.") Then Aunt Karen spoiled us with a wonderful dinner complete with the family's own homemade mocha ice cream for dessert. (This is a Brubaker family tradition. I don't know how often they make this, but every time we come to visit, someone fixes mocha ice cream and totally makes my year!) During that visit, I laughed at all the things we had in common. My cousin has the same slender legs and long arms. She's the only person in my family who also gets the heebie jeebies when she thinks about "settling down," because moving every few years is just too exciting. She also has a "mini" child, destined to always be considered a few years younger than she actually is until she reaches her mid-thirties! The morning after we arrived, Dusty flew off to Boston to do a job interview with Liberty Mutual's flight department, so he was gone for two days. We happened to arrive during harvest season and in the middle of the week, so since Dusty was gone and everyone else was at work during the day, the kids and I had some much needed time to get caught up on school work and chores. I was beyond thankful that Aunt Karen allowed me to wash all our bedding in her laundry room! It felt so good to sleep in clean sheets and blankets again! Tuesday evening we had Papa Murphy's Pizza with another of my cousins and his adorable family. (Mary and Gary, if you're reading this, you can bet we talked about you! We miss our Pizza Nights!) The next day, after lunch the kids went swimming in the creek with his oldest girls. Good ol' farm fun! Since they live just up the driveway from Karen and Jamie, we got to see his sweet wife and kids a bit more, but now I'm realizing I didn't get many photos of them, and not a single photo of my cousin! A few of my cousins live a little further west of their parents, so Wednesday we drove to visit my other cousin at his shop, Cliffco, where he fabricates metal parts on his high tech laser cutter and metal press. He was so nice to stay after normal work hours to make the kids a souvenir. Originally he had planned a 3-D dinosaur puzzle, but when he found out the file was corrupted, he resorted to a cutting out of Darth Vader (Score!). Brickhead was thrilled and can't wait to hang it on his wall. It was a short visit, but totally awesome meeting his wife and watching his laser machine in action (wow, that thing is fast!)
One Aunt and Uncle, four out of five cousins, and LOTS of kids in just four days of fun. Y'all...these are my people. The whole time I was recognizing bits of myself in all of them. Those Denlinger genes are strong, let me tell ya! So many petite kids (and adults, too, really.) So many long arms with strong veins and knobby wrists. We didn't have a toe contest this time, but I know they were there under socks and shoes! All these attributes are celebrated here, and I just felt good "belonging." (I promise, all of this is not to say I have a complex. I don't have a problem with fitting in, and I'm also thankful for the attributes I get from my mom's side...but all this family was just so similar!) It's kind of cool--and also left my Banana asking me if her toes were skinny and boney enough because she really wanted to fit into the Denlinger toe clan, too! I just love it so much.
Even more interestingly is that it's not just physical attributes. Personality traits get passed down too. (I've been told more than a time or two that this is where my temper comes from! Maybe a little bit of "tell-it-like-it-is"--also known as blunt honesty. Everyone there was so kind and down to earth, and I'd like to think that maybe some of that got passed down too. Our visit was wonderful and also too short. I'm so thankful for the technology that has kept us all in contact enough over the decades that we feel like we know each other, even though we've really only been together a few weeks of my lifetime. My beautiful family welcomed us with open arms and treated us far too good while we were there. (Let's face it...farmer people are the best people.) I'm not sure where we'll be next, but I hope they all know that they are just as welcome at our next home as they made us at theirs. Thank you, Rumbles! We have so many wonderful memories to take with us. Hoping to make more again soon.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
October 2022
Categories |