This is where I introduce you to The Village, or more accurately, to my family whom I’ve dubbed my Village. I talk about them a lot and you may have already met them in other posts or Social Media. They are the most amazing bunch of people in the world. You can take my word for it but I have to warn you, I’m a bit biased…I did, after all, grow 5 of them.
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It takes a village to raise a child.
When I was a new mom, I embraced my ex-husbands family because I truly believed this proverb. They were very family oriented and made a great village for my 3 oldest (and still do).
After I divorced, met the Renaissance Man and expanded our family, I was a little concerned because we didn’t have that kind of support to help us with our daughter.
When my older kids became adults, I made them aware that they were now officially villagers and they had a responsibility to help out with their younger siblings.
By that I meant sharing food, filling sippy cups, helping with schoolwork, not letting them play with dangerous items or make big messes. They were no longer allowed to be 100% self-absorbed. Learning to adult meant learning to recognize and help others.
There’s a 19 year difference between my oldest and my youngest. For perspective, there is an 18 year difference between my oldest and myself. If I could Mom at 18 then they could help. Some took to it better than other but they’re all on board now.
This was the basis for creating My Village. Now that half of them are adults and starting their own lives, I’ve made a point to organize get-togethers where they can bond and find common ground.
I have a bad habit of talking about myself in plural. It used to mean me and my small children.For most of my adult life I had at least one witchling with me at all times. I was that mom in Target talking to my empty cart because I forgot I left the kids at home.
These days it means me and the Renaissance Man. He is my husband, my best friend and my partner in crime. The Renaissance Man is my absolute favorite person in the whole wide world and he’s finally boarded my crazy train.
The Renaissance Man
For years I’ve been trying to convince him to contribute to my Etsy shop and also move out to the country and buy a farm. You can read about that here. The latter he was up for; the former, not so much.
For the last couple months, since deciding it was time to plan this move to the country, he’s been in the garage (his work shop) honing his skills. I’m not a slave driver, he really just loves the satisfaction of finishing a project.
(Don’t we all?)
He’s a Taurus which makes him a bit stubborn, appreciative of good food, soft fabrics and all those other warm and cozy things.
The stubborn thing, I’ve learned to work around. The trick is to make The Renaissance Man think the idea is his. Which usually means that I suggest something semi-regularly over a long period of time and then all of a sudden, he comes to me with this brilliant idea that he thinks he came up with.
Of course, I tell him he’s brilliant and we should most definitely go with said idea…
A few other things about The Renaissance Man. I’ve dubbed him The Renaissance Man because he’s incredibly talented in numerous fields. Like the Renaissance Men of old, DaVinci, Michaelanglo, Ben Franklin, etc., He is an artist, a craftsman, an amazing cook, good at his business. He’s also freakin’ hilarious, incredibly organized, has a very strong work ethic and a goal in life to be “A Grumpy Old Man”. He’s my rock and I love him.
The Rest of My Village
Together, we have 7 kids. His, Hers and Ours. If you ever wonder why I lost any semblance of sanity, You can stop. This is why. Children are crazy and crazy people make people crazy…
I’ll introduce them by age, oldest to youngest.
The Lucky SOB
The next member of my village is my first born and oldest son, we call Lucky. He’s a good-natured Sagittarius and incredibly lucky. For example, he will win in games of chance, finds amazing deals and has a habit of knowing the right person at the right time.
Another trait that my son carries that always amazes me is he can talk to anyone, anywhere. Yes, he’s friendly but Lucky can read people as well. It makes him a great car salesman and will make him a great EMT when he finishes school.
I think the best thing about his personality is that he remembers people. He really listens. Lucky will remember you even if he only met you once in a bar or a shop, half way across the country. More than that, he’ll remember what you talked about and probably told someone else about you.
"Did my friend ever call you? Yeah? That’s great, you got three jobs off that one call… Awesome!" *cue back pats and beer raises*
We love to joke about that. You need something? Lucky knows a guy! We will forever, for the rest of our life, have a hook up for anything we may ever possibly need.
Finally, after years of playing the field, Lucky found a forever girl, I’m going to refer to her as Chiquita because she’s adorable and yellow is her favorite color.
The funny thing is that he went to grammar school with her. He reached out to her on Facebook and asked if she remembered him. “Weren’t you the glue eater?”, she asked. Apparently in 1rst grade, she looked over to find him eating a glue stick. The little girl made a strange face so he offered her some, “All the cool kids eat glue.”, he informed her.
She declined the offer. She was always a smart kid. There will be glue sticks on every table at their wedding.
The Princess
My second child has always been the Princess. She was naturally a very girly girl, but being sandwiched between brothers, had no choice to be tough and get dirty.
The Princess is a Pisces with a Libra moon. This means she feels everything and thinks everything all at the same time. Plus, she’s a crier, (can you blame her?) She cries about everything, all the time. The good thing is that she’s finally okay with it.
I’m pretty proud of my daughter too. She’s a hairdresser in a high end salon, focused, disciplined, kind, and friendly. The Princess strives to be the friend that supports and empowers her friends(and her mom).
We started a goal setting/planning group to support each other and a few of her friends because she thought we needed support.
She calls me at least once a day, if not more and is always on the go. It’s a family joke.
Recently, The Princess got engaged to her high-school sweetheart after 8 years (Prince Charming) and together they’re planning a very bougie wedding. He’s as bad as she is with this stuff which is just proof that they’re supposed to be together. He’s a great guy and I couldn’t have picked a better person for her.
Shaggy
The next Village member in line (age wise) is the The Renaissance Man’s oldest son. We call him Shaggy because the guy hasn’t learned to comb his hair yet (and I don’t think he ever will).
He’s in school right now working on a degree in broadcasting. This is an amazing thing because the poor kid has always struggled with learning disabilities, anxiety and ADD.
Shaggy is a proud comic book nerd and has a passion for Star Wars (as do most of our kids) and also Horror stories.
PeterPan
My third child has been dubbed Peter Pan because he has never had any desire to grow up. Unfortunately, time has other ideas and is dragging him along for the ride.
He’s a year away from graduating with a degree in Digital Art with a focus on VFX (visual effects) because if he has to grow up at least it’s going to be fun!
Peter Pan also has a life-long passion for ecology and animals. Always my little tree hugger, he can tell you random facts about any animal on the planet.
And like his other siblings, he gets really excited about Star Wars, Marvel and Dungeons & Dragons. He also has ADD and some anxiety that he’s learning to manage. Adulting is hard.
The Brain
The Renaissance Man’s second child, The Brain is just about to graduate high school. He’s not quite a full-fledged village member because of his age but yes, his nickname refers to his intelligence.
The Brain is really smart and really good in school, taking honors and college-credit classes in the last two years of high school. However, he has no desire to go to college, preferring instead to join the carpenters union and build houses.
We completely support this. I have always believed you should do what you love and you shouldn’t have to spend a lot of money to do it.
He talks a lot (and I mean A LOT) and recently talked us all into playing Dungeons & Dragons. Of course he was the Dungeon Master. It was fun and interesting and now we plan a day every month to run a campaign together.
So… we’ve become that family.
Dark & Twisty
Our youngest daughter, we’ve dubbed Dark&Twisty.
She’s officially a teenager and is not a girly-girl. She loves goth, Halloween and various dark and twisted things, like bones and scary tales.
I have great stories depicting the difference between the girls.
D&T is an amazing artist with a strong penchant for Tim Burton style characters. Every original character she’s drawn has a rich back story and I keep encouraging her to get into graphic novels so she’ll know how to create her own.
But you know, she’s 13 and that’s a lot of work.
She and Peter Pan have talked about collaborating on a game or story when she gets her technical skills up. Of course I have to brag that she’s really smart and unusually responsible for a teenager.
The Padawan
Our youngest and surprise baby isn’t a baby anymore. We dubbed him The Padawan way back when because he was a late talker but still managed to get himself understood by hand movements, facial expressions and I swear, telepathy . The Renaissance Man called it The Force and liked to point out that it only works on the weak-minded. In other words, I am the weak-minded…
The Padawan is incredibly interested in how thing work, mechanics, building and inventing things. His warning label reads, “Don’t let me get bored.” There is sure to be some kind of chaotic mess to follow.
His favorite color is pink and he loves Minecraft.
The Padawan is also the only child of mine that intuitively get the finer aspects of my magical practice. He’s been known to adjust my altars with very logical reasoning which he explains in very technical terms. He vocabulary is ridiculously advanced for a kid.
There are other members in my village; my dad and brother, ‘adopted’ daughters (friends of my adult children), extended family that we still talk to, village ancestors that show up unannounced, with strong opinions. We’re just like everyone else.
I’ll introduce them some other time. I feel like this was a really long post and a lot of information.
If you read this far, AWESOME! Thanks, there’s no Village quiz. Just know my kids are all walking around with cheesy grins because of their new-found notoriety.
