When I got married for the first (and only) time, I not only got a husband, I had a ready-made family. Our boys were 11, 12 and 14 (we were married six weeks prior to the 12 year old turning 13)
I met the youngest one first. My mom and I had gone over to a quadplex unit to visit someone. We had knocked at the door but there was no reply. I don’t know if Randy called “Hi” to us from the tree before or after we knocked. He smiled brightly but gave no information about himself nor inquired who we were. As it turned out the sister we were searching for had moved out and Randy was actually living at that particular unit with his two brothers and dad.
Randy was ten going on eleven. We had the same size hands at the time. He shared a room with his two older brothers. His part of the bunk and dresser top were spotless. Randy was (still is) very neat. Very polite kid. Somewhat of a con artist. Full of smiles and gratitude.
Tony was twelve. Very insecure. Very much feeling the need to be accepted. Very much wanting a stable family.
The first time that I met Tony was inside the quadplex unit. He had set up pop bottles at the end of the hall, using them as bowling pins as he hurled a ball towards them over the bumpy carpet.
Tony was (and still is) very different from his brothers. When we took the boys out to purchase suits for Sunday wear, our oldest and youngest went for a conservative look that one often does find in Church. Tony wanted the loud royal blue with pinstripes, a suit designed for either the stage or very young pimps. We had discouraged him from buying the suit that he truly wanted. (Perhaps we should have purchased it for him)
Biff actually turned 14 before Roland and I were married. He’s always been big into health and fitness, worked out all the time, had muscles and sparkling teeth. We had given him three tubes of toothpaste for his birthday and sent him and his brothers through a maze to play laser tag.
All three boys had fun, but Biff was especially grateful for the toothpaste – which I’m sure took him less than a month to finish. Upon seeing Biff’s gift, Tony panicked. “I don’t think I’d want a shirt or tooth paste for my birthday.”
I just smiled at him and said, “And I would never get you toothpaste. You and Biff are two entirely different people.”
I seriously didn’t even know Biff could talk for about three or four months. Very quiet. Always smiled. Always put himself to bed at six and then would arise at four and walk over to the junior high and run around the track until the school doors opened.
What terrible parents we were. It was rare that we ever got up to see our boys off to school. And sometimes Randy would play hooky out of boredom. He was the only one I didn’t worry about academically. And he was the only one who made a big deal about seeing ALL of his teachers. Which was hard. Especially when I had all three of them in junior high and 21 different teachers to see (all by myself as Roland was working )
Our boys are 17, 16 and 15 years older than Jenna. Now they are men, all in their 20’s.
Tony was the first of the three to get married. He had joined the army and had proposed right before he went in. Has sparkling white teeth now – and I have given him toothpaste as a gift. Lots of gifts are different than when he was fourteen.
Soon I will be a grandmother as he and his wife are expecting their first baby.
Randy goes to school full time. Assists with orientation and enrollment. Many things seem to come so natural and easy for him. He catches on quickly – like a duck to water. He is definitely the most extraverted of the three. And now he is engaged. I will have another daughter-in-law midway through this year.
Biff has had jobs off and on. Nothing stable – mostly due to the economy. Lot’s of temp jobs and trying to pass the ABVAB as the army would definitely provide benefits. Being paid to work out, for one.
He’s tried his hand at relationships. Biff is sweet and has some really great qualities, but not everybody sees that. Biff is an animal charmer. The barkiest dogs will greet Biff as though he is a long lost friend. I have never seen any animal behave mean around Biff.
He is awesome at putting puzzles together or finding the difference in hidden pictures. He is a loner. Often he just chooses to be that way. But sometimes he feels lonely. He’s got some great one on one social skills around certain people. Unfortunately many view his overall social skills as being awkward.
Jenna assures me that Biff is the greatest “tucker-inner” and he is definitely strong. As of now he has a “platonic girlfriend” They’re really good friends, and I would LOVE to have her as a daughter-in-law, but at this point I don’t believe that anything more will come of it except for being friends.
And there’s a very brief description of my three sons.
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