Eight is enough

My twin sister called me today, two days shy of her youngest child's 2nd birthday. But that wasn't the reason for her call. She knows I keep very good tabs on all seven of her kids' birthdays. Last month was Daniel's. This month is Matthew's. Next month is Nate's. There is nobody in May and June, and then Lukie celebrates his in July, followed by Lauren in August and Makenna in September. There is then usually a reprieve in October and November before Nick has a birthday in December.

But this year, her 8th child is due to arrive in October. If she keeps going, she would surely need to target the months where nobody has a birthday. But that would mean going past eight. And eight is enough. Number eight will arrive before its mom and I turn 40. And it will join its 5 brothers and 3 sisters as a girl if it is smart enough.

Once this child arrives, I can tell people that my twin sister has twice as many kids as I do. And she home schools them. Me, I can't wait to get them off to school. Full days of it.

We are as much alike as we are different. The difference is, I know half of eight is a big enough number around this house. And I wouldn't try to have the 'last' grandchild even if I wanted to. The order of my children's births hold no significance. They are all somewhere in the middle. My older sister can claim her daughter as the first grandchild to our mom and Karen could have claimed Matthew as the last grandchild if she wasn't expecting again. Me, I can claim entire same sex children like my mom did with 4 daughters. And now she can boast that she will have 14 grandchildren.

Eight is definitely enough.