Mamma Mia, here I go again!!!

This past Saturday night, six of the nine sisters in our family got together for one of our many girls-nights-out. When I say nine sisters, there are seven sisters, and the wives of my two brothers--the sisters-in-law!!! But they are one of us!! We went to see the movie, Mamma Mia. We are all HUGE ABBA fans, and could hardly stay seated during the show. With nine kids in my family, spanning 18 years, I learned a lot of music as a child from what my sisters listened to. I am seventh of nine children. Half of ABBA's songs have specific meaning for us girls. The "Money Money" song means Rachel and Amy ironing over at the Thatcher's home as young teens. You always had to help the Thatchers do their chores before they could play. And the chores were NEVER done. (And sidenote to Kim Thatcher.....your blog post about laundry was hillarious!!! Mostly because I can remember your families laundry room growing up. Was there even a floor?? Or just never ending clothes!!!)

The SOS song means Amy and I making up a dance for our mom when she was on her death bed in the hospital with cancer. She laughed so hard, which was our plan. She even dig a little jig herself. Definately a highlight of that six week cancer battle. But strange now that such an upbeat song can make me cry.

This first set of photos is to show how little I was when ABBA was popular. These pictures show my very 70's sisters. I am the little cute one!!

Here we go folks--a look into the world of the performing Daugs girls. Note, not for "real" audiences--just for each other and mom. "Miss America" contests were already happening in our home when I was born. What do you expect with five older sisters!! Mom was usually the judge, and the whole family would watch the show. In a few of these photos, we decided to relive our childhood at a sisters overnighter. I was 18. I should have been crowned, but I only took the place of first runner-up. Maybe it was the chewing gum??? I was "Miss Behavior". The three photos across the bottom are three of my sisters this past summer at a family reunion. They were all performing for the "Daugs family Idol" contest. The gal with the indian head dress is my little sister taking over the stage at my moms 40th high school reunion. The others are other dress up and dance times. Yep, we are nuts!! After Saturday night, we have already planned the next girls outing. We're kicking my brother out of his house, cranking the ABBA music, covering their HUGE family room with mattresses...and you can imagine from there. We've already got costumes for everyone--it will be an ABBA reunion if I ever dreamed one up!!! I'll share photos if I dare.

Hey , girls...."sistas" of mine. Here's a thumbs up to US!!! These pics are from our first girls get together after mom died. Do you remember? How can we forget? Judy announced she was pregnant!! At age 40!!!! "Knock three times, state your name, and admit that you are a scrap-o-holic" before entering the room. These days we don't all scrapbook, so any old "o-holic" will do. We've got a few of them covered in this family of dysfunction!! At least we know how to leave the FUN in dysFUNction!!! Not many can say that!!

Here we are--nine Daugs girls!! (We do have two brothers, FYI. They are just older and just younger than me.) Naomi (Toopi) is my only "little sister". We are great friends and share the incredible experience of being adoptive moms together. She is the most patient person I know and I want to be more like her. Next is me. (No description needed!!) Next is Amy, my bestest Ame Same, sharer of my joys and heartaches. A part of me walking around in another body. "Maybe it was Memphis!!!" Then comes Rachel (Rachie). Never ending favors and gifts and service. We share memories of Bear Lake days with a fondness others don't get, a love of childrens books, and the best career on the planet--we are TEACHERS!!! And...kids LOVE us!! Then there is Shari. She's the one who forced me to look in the mirror as a little girl and say out loud, "I am a child of God". She was my refuge when I was a teenager. She can delve into anyones soul, and really ought to be a shrink. I think the whole family can agree, as only ABBA fans can that, "we say...Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singin'!!!" Second to oldest is Judy. She's the one that, even as a child, I recognized did not have a perfect life. But she does have a perfect way of puting one foot in front of the other through it all. Little did she, or does she know, that all her trials will come in handy for comforting those who will follow. She is a creative genious, and can make flowers and food beautiful creations. Kim is the eldest of the siblings. Kimerly is her name--no B. She is known as the queen. But not just for being the oldest and richest and having the most expensive tatse. But for the royal way she carries herself. She has always been a believer and follower of being gratious, ladylike, lovely, and feminine. She has often suffered in silence--not one to go about spewing her anger like many of us. She is wise in holding her tongue as much as she does, and has insights we will all be needing in this lifetime. And...one thing we all love from Kim are the head massages and her playing with our hair. It just feels "big-sister"ish. Kim also shares with me the challenges and understanding of having an adopted child with Aspergers Syndrome. She will be coaching me much more often in the future. Alison, otherwise known as "Sonny", is the first sister-in-law. I named her "Sonny" myself before she even met my brother, and the name stuck. She fits perfect in our family, because she says anything that comes to her mind, no matter how inappropriate. Even the morning after she was married, she let us know how her first 24 hours married had been. And in the "Mamma Mia" language, she is perfectly fine, just like the rest of us, talking about "dot dot dot!!!" She is a strong personality, just like the rest of us, and totally fun when she lets loose. Christy is the second sister-in-law. How we got so lucky I do not know. My little brother married WELL!!! Christy is as easy-going as a female can possibly be. She is a calm breath of fresh air amung all of us bawling, dramatic, loud, carrying-on women!! She takes us all in stride, and is WAY less irritated with us that we are at each other!!! She is darling and recently had her third and fourth children--twin boys born two months ago. But is she having a mental breakdown like I did with twins? Oh no--she is the picture of a calm mom, resigned to the fact that she will be eternally tired--so why fight it?

I love you all, my "sistas". I love that we remain connected, even with our own crazy lives swirling around us. I love that there is no denying that we are a flawed family, and no expectations of each other to be anything but who we are. I love that we know how to put down some serious food, have some serious conversations, do some serious shopping, serious beauty pageant performing, and do some serious skinny-dipping, in public pools and in lakes--in broad daylight and the dark hours of night. The last time at Bear Lake was way to liberating, and kind of makes me want to say "ya-ya"!! I'm not sure how we all ended up in the same family. But it was meant to be. You can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends. And I choose you all for my friends!!! I LOVE YOU!!!