We grew up with the same parents

I have spent the last few days with two of my siblings.

Now that the weekend is over, I started to think about my two brothers and sister.  We are all so different.

How can 4 individuals with the same DNA and same parents turn out so differently?

George and I shared the various places my parents called home for about 16 years. Then he went off and joined the Marines.

Cheryl and I shared a room for 19 years. She left to get married.

Greg and I lived under the same roof for 16 years. I finally moved out when I got married.

My poor parents put up with me for 26 years.  I was with them longer than any of my siblings.

George and Greg's time together was the shortest. Just a scant 6 years.

It is the first time I realized that fact, just 6 years together.

Makes me sad as I have memories that are about all of us.  But they really were not about all of us, it was some part of the family not all of the Raboni's.

Now that I think of it, maybe we were in fact raised by different parents.

George, Cheryl and I were the children of the "hungry years" for my parents.  They didn't have much money as Dad worked and went to school.  And Mom had us kids, 24/7.

Greg came along the year before Dad finished Law School.

Greg had more time with Dad as he was home more.  No longer in school or working 2 jobs. But he also had the shortest period of time since Dad was gone when Greg was 19.

There was also more money for life in general.  During the short few years when we were all together, there were camping trips across county and vacations at the Jersey Shore.

But looking back in retrospect, those 6 overlapping years were all we truly had as a family living together.

Not much time.

No wonder our memories are so different.

No wonder we look at our parents from different viewpoints.

We either had the parents who were young and inexperienced or the parent who knew his time was running out. Too soon.

I wish Dad had gotten to know his grandchildren as Mom did. I wish he could have been there for their graduations as Mom was.  I wish he could have seen his children grow up, raise their families and become individuals not just George and Irene's kids.

My siblings took very different paths.  Greg did the physical work.  George, a police officer.  Cheryl worked in schools and day care centers always spending time with children.  I was the only one who had a traditional "office" job with various financial institutions.

The four of us have caught up with each other at one time or another over the last 7 years.  But one of us has always been missing.

Life has gotten in the way.

Last week, I heard this said " Days are long but years are short." The Goldberg's TV show.

I need to be better at making sure to see my siblings and enjoy the time I have with them.

We all need to be better about seeing each other. George and Irene would agree.


See you next week.