One of the biggest advantages of being homeschooled my entire academic career is being home with my family. Being together practically 24/7 creates a bond so precious and indestructible. Who knows you better than your parents and siblings? Who sees the real you-the good the bad and the downright ugly-for the entirety of your formative years? Between activities, jobs, field trips and errands, granted, we are not ‘home’ together 24/7 but love, learn and live together. Wouldn't trade it for anything! Car rides have produced some crazy-random bursts of laughter, sharing a room with Sara and talking late into the night….suffice it to say, if our walls could only talk! The Lord saw fit to place me in a powerful, authoritative, groundbreaking and influential position like none other! *Satisfy my exaggerated drama and picture each word getting bigger and bigger* The Eldest Sister of Goreckidom! *Insert villainous sinister laugh*
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I think I can say the two most boring years of my short 17 years of life were the years between: 7-24-1993 through 11-6-95. To help you out, that second date is the day I BECAME A BIG SISTER! Let me just say it has NEVER. BEEN. THE. SAME. SINCE! Her ready smile and sunshine personality has always shined since infancy when she was fat, sassy, bald and completely adorable! She was talking like a little adult, we have video tapes to prove it, at 18 months! I had no qualms about my only child status being overthrown, and embraced big-sisterhood with zeal. So much zeal that I often smothered her with tight hugs (it’s a wonder she didn’t pop!), loads of kisses and in short, a mothering overload! I did not grow milder in my second-mother abilities with age…I got worse…but that’s another story. *Smile* As we grew, she stayed petite for quite some time and was called, ‘Shorty.’ Now she is the tallest in the family second only to Dad! Sara took after Mum in the singing department, what a voice! and though we are very different in tastes and temperaments, it’s what makes Sara…Sara. She’s the one that has always made me laugh, get my focus off of myself and is the only one who can bring out the crazy in me. She tells everything just like it is, with characteristic wry smile and frank humor. Just today, Sara and I trucked up a load of things needed for canning and dinner from the basement while singing a melody of, ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ and ‘Make Em Laugh.’ We share a room and do our schoolwork in it every weekday and have way too much fun together! Schoolwork does get done…after Mum pleading with us to keep it down so the littles can concentrate! We are different-strikingly so...being a strong will to doormat, an extrovert to an introvert, a talker to a listener, preferring chocolate to vanilla, peace signs to roses-I think you get the picture. Sara and I complement each other like coffee and cream and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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Ah, males…that foreign species! I’m sure they think the same about us females. When Ronnie came along, he was certainly Dad’s little shadow and still is today. My first word was, “Mama!” as was Sara’s…Ronnie’s first words were, ‘Dada,’ ‘Pap’, (Dad’s father who passed on just about 5 weeks before Ronnie’s 2nd birthday), ‘Hocka’-translated: hockey, and only THEN ‘Mama.’ I was a blissfully happy eight year old when Ronnie finally came…happy because I had missed seeing the birth and blissful, because we finally had a baby in the family again. That I, no longer a little girl, could take care of! I embraced my, uh...our new baby boy with a newfound sense of maturity and responsibility. Mum would sometimes leave him in my arms-screaming boisterously-so she could steal a few moments of peace for a shower. As he grew older I put my weak wiffle-ball skills to work when Ronnie wanted someone to play with…in spite of having a younger brother, my Frisbee wrist needs work as do my light-saber and hockey skills but I digress. Ronnie is now a strapping boy of 8 years and 11 months tomorrow. I certainly can’t snuggle him on my lap anymore…nor would he ever let me. He runs away when I ruffle his towhead...he gives me those ‘guy hugs,’ short, sideways but sweet. He does not share Dad’s dimples on his cheeks but one lone dimple on his chin, like Mum. His interests include hockey, Legos, Star Wars. He is in 3rd grade now, doing quite well and has gotten the knack of simple Algebraic equations, 9th grade found me close to a breakdown over Algebra 1, long division and a true gift for retaining history details! *Whisper* he gets that from me…just saying! His big hands and long fingers are perfect for playing a piano and strumming a guitar…though I think he prefers the second-he inherited that from Dad and Sara. Today found me dueling light-sabers with him and…oh, I’m sorry, he just corrected me. He was giving me a class on proper light saber defensive maneuvers.
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Lastly, I am a big sister to Anna. She was so tiny that we still call her Peanut or Peony…even though she is a tall, gangly 6 year old. She couldn’t have had better timing, really…coming into the world 1 hour and 14 minutes into Dad’s vacation on November 8th, 2004. She and Sara, as babies, are tied for the chubbiest Gorecki baby award, share the same dark brown eyes and dark blond hair. Anna’s laugh is different from Sara’s-delightfully little girlish-and she wavers between tomboy and fun little girl daily. If I had an ounce of her energy…taking the steps in leaps and bounds, stubbing her big toe when she ran into our room, swinging on the monkey bars with the light of accomplishment on her face. Love it! Anna is also very loving and whenever she hears anything of me putting myself down, she says, “No Meghan…you’re pretty, and feminine!” She has such a heart for Jesus, too, and proudly volunteers to read her Bible during devotions. Reading the Candy Maker’s Gift today, (legend of the candy cane), I could tell every word I said connecting the candy cane to Jesus, she was taking to heart. We love to snuggle and read books together and I am getting a great kick out of her reading to me now! I’m only eleven years older than her, but I feel a big-sisterly pride when she reads a book to me. She cooks marvelous plastic food in her restaurant upstairs for her dolls and I…that’s when I realize just how old I am when I feel like a contortionist sitting in one of those little chairs at her plastic table! Anna’s mind is like a sponge; she soaks in everything she hears and is a tad on the bossy side which I readily admit she inherited from me! When Mum was calling Dad and he didn’t hear her, Anna took it upon herself to go to the top of the steps and yell, “DAAAD! Mom wants you immediately!!” As Dad walks up the steps she adds, “You’re not in trouble.”
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The Lord placed me as sibling-head of this beautifully crazy, hilariously out of tune, sometimes chaotic, wonderful family…and I wouldn’t trade them for the world. Their influence on my life has been huge, I don’t know where I’d be without a single one of them, and I can’t wait to see what the Lord has planned for us.
Ah the new year...2011...loftily noble resolutions...a late night with snacks and sparkling grape juice...pork and sauerkraut-in our home at least...family...a holiday...a fresh start...upcoming 'firsts'...transitions...graduation...and then what? What does the Lord have for me this year, I've recently wondered with more than a twinge of uneasiness. What does He have for my precious family, I ask hesitantly? 2010 has been quite the year...one of the hardest, for me personally, but I already wrote about that. This New Year's Eve, I have a date. With my 2 yr. old cousin Ty at his house. *Smile* When he goes to bed, one of the movies only I enjoy will be popped in, handwork and writing will commence...I'm glad to help my aunt who does so much for us, but I will admit, during this self-indulging few hours until 2011 is here, I will miss spending it with my family. The next morning, Aunt Lori's yummy, strong coffee will be drunk, fellowship with my Lord will be sweetly uninterrupted and lofty ambitions will be written down resolutely. As I've been contemplating my 2011 resolutions-many of which will probably not be met-a gentle 'check' in my spirit has been present lately, in the form of the song below. Whatever comes, during the change from high-school student to 'college age' girl who is not going to college, any and all trials the Lord in His sovereignty will allow in my family, I think, no, I know, the Lord will give me strength, and grow me in His love. So why should I be a worrywart? Self-sufficient? Fearful about the future? The Lord has held onto me tightly thus far and will never let go in 2011, just as He has in 2010.
