My Life in a Jar

Many years ago my children gave me a jar with questions that they wanted me to write about in a journal. Of course I have never done this, I'm terrible at keeping a journal. The other day I came across it, being more sentimental at this stage in my life, I decided each week I'll randomly answer one of the questions.
How many brothers and sisters do you have? Describe them and tell a story about you and each of them.

I have 4 siblings, Wally, Mary Ellen, Karen and Craig.
Wally: I have been blessed with the greatest big brother anyone could ever imagine. He has always been a strength to me, someone I could always depend on. His first marriage failed after his youngest child turned 18. This cause friction between him and his children. Plus his son was killed in a head-on car accident, leaving a wife and 3 children behind. Wally has had many challenges in his life, yet he has always been a happy person. He always had time for others and would give the coat off his back if someone needed it. He wasn't around much when I was young, since he is 10 years older than I am. He started working at a farm milking cows and hauling hay at a very young age. He was married and out of the house at 19. I remember one time when I was in high school there was a football game between Sky View and Logan High. The students left the school driving in a caravan to Logan to the game. We were rear ended and that forced us into the vehicle in front of us. There was only minor damage and no one was hurt, but our car wouldn't start afterwards. Karen and I were both afraid to call Dad and tell him. So we called Wally and he came to the rescue. He got the car running and told us to go on down to the game that he'd go and talk to Dad for us. When we got home not much was mentioned about the accident.
Mary Ellen: She is 5 years older than me. She would watch Karen, Craig and I in the summer while Mom was at work. Something we did not appreciate. We wanted Mom home and at times made it difficult for her. I remember one time shortly after she got her drivers license Karen and I, (mostly Karen) were teasing her and making fun of the way she drove. She warned us several times to stop or we could walk. That just made us continue more, just to see if she would carry through with her threat. About 4 blocks from home she'd had enough. She pulled over to the side of the road and insisted that we get out of the car. It wasn't quite so funny then. We were pretty mad at her as we walked home. Now looking back, I think she was pretty nice not putting us out long before she did, just so we could have walked farther. After that I didn't tease her anymore about her driving.
Karen: My twin or the surprise in the family. They had no clue that Mom was going to have twins, until after I was born. So I say I'm the one that was planned and Karen was the surprise. We have always been best friends. Where one was the other one wasn't to far away. I don't remember us fighting much and the few times we did, we didn't stay mad very long. I remember walking to meet the bus in high school. One morning we were running a bit late and had to run to meet the bus. Karen tripped over the railroad tracks and fell. As if that wasn't embarrassing enough her binder opened and her papers went every where. Several of us stopped to help her pick them us as the bus driver waited patiently for us.
Craig: The baby of the family, or the mistake since he is only 15 months younger than Karen and I. The three of us were often mistaken as triplets. The three of us played together a lot and got along most of the time. Craig's mission in life was to be funny and to make people laugh. (which he still does) When we were young Karen or I would get Craig to chase one of us through the house. He would follow that one through his opened bedroom window as the one behind would close the window on him. He was extremely ticklish so one of us would tickle him under his arms and the other would tickle his feet as he was stuck in the window. We did this many times before he finally quit falling for it. One day at lunch time while in Jr. high, we heard a loud boom. It was like a bomb exploding. Later that day I found out that Craig and 2 friends had flushed a cherry bomb down the toilet. It blew the toilet off the wall, thus making the loud explosion. They were caught as they were running out, because they were all wet.
I have grown to love and appreciate my brothers and sisters more as I have grown older. There's been times in my life when my feelings have been hurt and times I have hurt their feelings because of things we have said or have done to each other. I wished I could turn back the clock and change those times. I love them all and I'm thankful for them.
When Kim was married I was blessed to be in the temple with all of them except Craig. Craig hasn't been active for most of his life. I realized then, what a void it was not to have him there. Our family isn't complete without all of us being together.