Once Upon a Time... I was born

     So I was born in the springtime when May flowers were coming up. I've been told that a few days later, it snowed. Go figure. My brother and sisters soon followed me into this world and that is when things got interesting. My siblings and I had a fairly decent relationship with our parents; they were firm, even strict at times but always loving. They were always there if we needed a hug or a tickle.
My parents home-schooled us because they didn't want to make us ride the bus for over 2 hours everyday; we lived in right on the border of two school districts and either direction had a long bus ride.  My dad wanted to teach us life skills like taking care of the house and shopping for groceries. We had our school work to do first of course. We learned our math and English and science just like everyone else. We learned how to work independently. We were in swimming lessons with fellow home-schoolers and my sister and I took piano lessons. My parents loved to entertain friends; I remember many games of Scrabble being played at the dining room table and the laughter throughout the house. In my little head, everything was wonderful. I had no idea that beneath the exterior of our happy family, a tiny black hole was on the verge of swallowing up life as I knew it.
   I suppose the when I noticed something wasn't quite right was when my parents went back to school. My dad needed to finish his high school in adult education and my mom needed to finish her accounting clerk diploma (she became pregnant with me while she was in her course). My grandma babysat us during this time while my dad was at school and my mom was living in a different city to finish her course. We only got to see her on the weekends for that year. That was pretty hard, my youngest sister was only 3 yrs old at the time. During this time, I became more responsible for helping take care of my siblings. It was my job to make sure all of our schoolwork was packed to take to grandma's, that my youngest sister had her toys and Pull-Ups packed and that we all had our winter clothes dried and ready to wear. I was about 8 or 9 yrs old at the time; just old enough to take on more responsibilities but not really old enough to be like another parent. Of course I just saw it as something that I had to do and I didn't see myself as another parent but rather a responsible older sister.