On Saturday we had my in-law's anniversary party and I was asked to say a few words, which I reluctantly did. I added the line about how Wife has such a big heart and we have taken in so many people to live with us for periods of time. I don't even realize it anymore that all we do is harp on the need to continue your schooling while you are here. Whether we bore you or not, that is really the only difference between us and anyone who comes into our lives, well other than I am just larger than life and awesome.
Towards the end of the party, my older sister in law's best friend's sister came and wanted to meet us. I've known her at least 15-18 years and had forgotten she had a sister, I was like huh? Who are you again? She had real serious eyes and just stared at me which made me a little uncomfortable but I did what I do. She wanted to thank us for taking her sister in at that point in time which was a real hard time in their family's life. She then added that living with us inspired her to continue her education and I believe she now has a Master's degree. I smugly/jokingly added "that is what I do, I am an inspirational guy. Hanging around me just makes you a better person." Maybe to shut me up, she gave me a big hug which surprised me and then she left.
She stayed with us maybe 2-3 years and that is when we lived in our smaller house. My sister in law lived with us at the same time and they shared the one extra room we had. I have always enjoyed having other people around. Right now, our house seems too big, but I know someone else is going to move in soon.
Our first extra person was my brother who lived with us while he went to UT for about two years. Then we also had my younger brother who has stayed with us a couple of times for a couple of years at a time.
Then we had a few friends of Boy stay with us. I mean his two friends from 1st grade and 3rd grade pretty much grew up here on the weekends, most of his friends had single/divorced moms and we served as a stable place for them to grow and like it or not, I was a father figure to way too many of these little knuckleheads. In high school, one boy outright moved in and stayed with us for a year until he graduated from high school.
There's also Girlie who has lived with us about 3 times now, usually for a couple months at a time. We have known her since she was 3-4 and has pretty much grown up with us.
I still foresee a couple of friends for Javalina to come around as he gets older, or maybe it was just Boy who had a knack for finding lost souls and befriending them. Either way, this was one of the reasons I wanted a big house, so we could always help those that needed a hand up.
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