The Sandwich Kid, Part I

Not focusing on food today.  Nope, not at all.  The reference to "sandwich" is related to my status as the middle child of three -- two boys and a girl.  Being sandwiched between two boys isn't easy, but less so in my family. 

Typical of families growing up in the 1930s-1950s, we were three typical kids.  But did you look at the span of the decades above?  Yes, the photo to the right is NOT of my two brothers and me.  It's a "borrowed" photograph -- we're separated by so many years on each end there are no photos of the three of us together as youngsters.

My "big" brother at age 13

My older brother was 14 when I was born.  Often when he was taking care of me while our dad was sick, people would mistake him for my father.  At times I wonder if that was an embarrassment to a teen aged boy.  Or maybe he was thrilled to be thought older.

Gene had been in a single parent setting for almost half his almost 13 years when our mom married dad.  And then within a little less than a year, here's a baby in the house, and a girl besides!

I have only foggy memories of the early years of my life with Gene.  The years seemed to go by without my keeping record of anything until I was about five.  And then I remember so vividly the image of Gene and his best friend, Buzz.  I have a fantastic photograph in my mom's remembrances of the three of us standing together on their high school graduation day.

Then my big brother got married and left home to raise his own family, presenting me with my first nephew at the ripe old age of 6!  Who knew a little girl could be an aunt!  And he kept producing those little boys, one every two years until he had four of them!  Boys, ick!

During all this reproductive activity, my mom would be pregnant at least four times and each time lost that precious life, sometimes in the first trimester but once she carried her little one until six months.

Me with mom holding Brad (1955)

In 1954, a few months after my eighth birthday, my parents blessed me with another brother!  I thought God had forgotten how to make little girls. 

Next time, I'll tell you more about Brad, and then we can talk more about being that middle child between two brothers so far away on each side of me chronologically.


Photo credit:  Blue Bear Nursery