I pull into my driveway, cut my lights off, and turn the engine off. Thinking to myself as I get out of the car, "yes...finally home and ready to have some silence". I unlock the door only to hear my mom and siblings talking or sometimes yelling depending on their mood. I walk by saying hello but only thinking that I have a couple of steps left until I get to my bedroom. I quickly enter and shut the door. I let out a huge sigh of relief and lay down on my bed. But, to my dismay I hear from a distance the sounds of shoes...coming towards my room. Just as I thought, a couple of seconds later there is a knock at my door. I soon realize that no, I will not be left alone.
When you have a huge family, you will never be alone. That scenario above happens to me on a daily occasion. It doesn't matter what room of the house you go in, there will always be someone in there with you. To fix this problem, my family decided to add on to our house. Everyone thought that this would be a great idea by giving people more space. Okay yeah, so we went through the whole process and I finally got my own room after what.....14 years of sharing one? I was ecstatic about having my own room to go to when I wanted to be alone, to decorate which ever way I wanted, and the most important part to have a lock on my door. I thought that I would finally have a chance to get away from everybody when needed. I was wrong on so many levels.
I have more people come to my room these days than I did when I shared a room. For instance, the other day I was in my room. The next thing I know, my dad has invited himself into my room. He walks over to my window to only open it up and stare out it. I ask him, "What are you looking at and why do you have to look at it through my window"? He responds by saying, "Well, your room is in the back of the house and there is this cat that I want to look out in the backyard". That was such a ridiculous excuse for coming into my room. I just wanted him to leave but no, he then decided to wipe the condensation off of my window for what seemed like eternity. The most frustrating part about this is the fact that he leaves my window and door open when he leaves. If you open my door when you come in, the least you can do is close it when you leave.
It's not just your room that they barge into. It's also other rooms in the house. For example, the bathroom. The sacred place that you go to have privacy. The place that you think to yourself, "no one will bother me in here". If you say that in my house then you are WRONG. My family can't even wait until you are done with the shower before they feel the urge to come in and have to grab something. If it's not having to get something out of there then they like to mess with you. On several occasions, I thought that I would be alone in the shower. Well my lovely brother, John, proved that thought wrong. When you are in the shower, you can't hear anything especially if you are singing like I do. My brother decided to sneak in and thought that it would be funny to stick one of his reptiles, might I add it was a snake, in the shower with me. Of course I let out this bloodcurdling scream and all I hear is laughter. That wasn't the end of his shenanigans though. Another time while I thought I was alone in the bathroom while taking yet another shower. He came in once again but this time only to have red dye in a huge bowl. He then proceeded to throw it over the top of the shower. Needless to say I did not think that it was funny at that moment but now I look back on it and you just have to laugh about stuff like that.
So for all of you that are only kids or have one sibling, appreciate the space that you have and that you can take showers in peace. I am rarely ever home alone without someone else there with me.
I only have four people living in my house and my dad does the SAME THING. I'll be in my room reading or doing homework, and all the sudden he wants to walk in and have a full blown conversation. It's the most annoying thing. And Chad! He always needs something when I'm in the shower. I totally relate to you there. But I can't imagine having 4 or 5 siblings running around all the time. Oh Haj. Your parents are going to miss you so much when you go to Longwood. Your poor dad. He'll have to go in Jill's room and mess with something. Maybe change light bulbs. I don't think she has a window in her room. He'll find something. Maybe he'll take to taxadermizing in her room. That'd be awesome.
ReplyDeleteI dont have a big family, just one sibling, but even with just the four of us it never feels like there is enough space. My room is never private, my mom likes to walk in there like your dad and just look out the window and tell me how messy it is. Whenever I try to focus on reading books for school or doing any kind of homework, my dad will always be watching the T.V. way too loud. My sister will be listening to her music and my mom will be on the phone. Way too hard to focus. Then of course there is the bathroom. My sister is always in the bathroom. It takes her an hour to shower, an hour to do her hair, she always has trouble with her contacts,and it even takes several minutes to put her retainer in. Luckily with me only having one sister I have figured out that you are not rushed to leave if you use the bathroom while she is sleeping. If it is this hard with one sister, Julie, I have sympathy for you.
ReplyDeleteNice post, I really liked it. In my house I am the creepier, who creeps at what everyone else is doing (sort of like your dad). I do that because I honestly have nothing better to do. Sometimes it is a great way to start a conversation with my sister or parents. Sadly, most of the time I am asked to leave the room because I am bothering them. I thought the part with the bathroom pranks was hilarious. It reminded me of pranks I played on my sister. During some nights, I would turn off the lights to her room and close the door to leave her in complete darkness. She would remain seated on the bed and beg me to turn the lights back on because the boogeyman was going to get her. I would eventually turn the lights back on, but every moment of the prank was worth it. Good days (:
ReplyDeleteWhen I came over to your house the first time it was kind of a shock. I've never really been around that many people because I'm an only child. Your house it totally different, but I also wouldn't have had the opportunity to see what it's like to have siblings if I didn't come to your house. I agree that your room is like your sanctuary. I feel the same way. When I look back on coming over to your house before the addition, you seemed more stressed. I'm really happy that you have your own room now, but still I remember the day Joy and Jan were trying to come in. We wrote them a note to go away and slid it under the door. Joy ended up teaching Jan how to pick the lock. I think your family is really special; you’re always going to have someone watching out for you. Plus, you and brother are setting really good examples for your younger siblings. They’re lucky they have you as a role model. I’m looking forward to reading more stories.
ReplyDeleteJules, the music on your page always startles me. Enjoyed reading this as well (:
ReplyDeleteSteph- I have this feeling that when I come home on breaks or to visit then someone (more than likely my dad)is going to have taken over my room! I'm going to walk in and see ducks everywhere..ha
ReplyDeleteAdam- Kristy and Jill do the same thing! She spends more time in the bathroom in the morning than the normal person should. I have to threaten to leave her if she's not in the car in the morning by the time I am.
Rahul- I hate to say this but I used to be deathly afraid of the dark! I would make Jill go into a room before me to cut the lights on! I'm still not a big fan of the dark but I can deal with it for the most part. So I sympathize with your sister completely!
Allison- When you first started to come over, I would plead to my family to act normal. But, as you saw that obviously didn't work! I remember that day too. We tried to lock my door and the bathroom one but she would still get in to bother us! The part when you said how we slid the not under the door reminded me of the other day when Jan kept sliding food coupons under my door! I guess she really wanted me to get chicken? ha
Eniola- Thanks and you know I'm keeping this playlist on here just for you!
I do not have as large of a family as you but there are five people in my family and we go through this all. of. the. time. I have yet to obtain my own bedroom though my sister is 20 and I am 18. My brother loooooves to come into me and my sister's room at random moments and lay on my floor for no apparent reason. I don't even know the meaning of alone time anymore. My mother has yet to discover the purpose of knocking and thinks it is sufficient to announce her arrival as she is opening the door. Even then, after I would yell that I am changing, she stands at the door with it slightly cracked open so she can hear me and continues with whatever conversation she had intended to start. I really loved reading about the shower pranks. I used to fill buckets with ice-cold water and dump it over the shower curtain when my brother would take his "hour-long-showers" as we called them. Living in a crowded house can be stressful and there are definitely days when I do not want to get out of my car when I pull into the drive-way but in the end I love them all despite their ignorance towards personal space. I really enjoy your blog.
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