Why is it

that kids who grow up in the same family with the same parents end up so different? It's got to be something in our genes. Or maybe it's just the friends/times for us are different enough, even if we're only a year or two apart? We remember different things, and common memories in different ways...It's as if we had different childhoods sometimes!

I just wonder at my brother, sister and myself. We are very different. My sister is very much a Generation X California Yuppie. (Love you, sis, and that's not an insult.) My brother is a down-home, laid-back, family man type - dare I say a bit of a redneck? (Love you too bro, and that's not meant as an insult either!) As for me? I'm not quite sure. I used to say I'm a redneck yuppie wannabe. Mooner, my little's stepdad, calls me an "educated redneck." [g]

How did I get off track like that? I was originally meaning to talk about the differences in our reading habits!

I love to read. Live for it sometimes. I prefer romances and some sci-fi fantasy. Mixed with biographies of famous and not-so-famous people (mostly women, I'm fascinated by women in history), history, political history, religion in history, regligious studies, economics...

My sister has always loved to read. She reads less now, but that's a side-effect of having a child, I think. Especially one as precocious as my niece. She mostly reads fiction. But growing up, oh, the books we read! We actually had a system at night, of different knocks on the wall between our rooms. Meet in the hall, going to bed, finished my book...Our secret code...

And our brother, who was never very into reading. Oh, he had his moments. But this photograph we have of the three of us as little kids says it all. The three of us are sitting on our front porch swing in Oklahoma. M's about 6, I'm about 4, B's about 3? Something like that. M & I are sitting there so prettily in our dresses and ponytails. B is lunging off the porch swing toward the camera. [g] Always in motion my brother. ;) Too restless to sit still I think.

But there was that summer we spent in Spain with our maternal relatives where he read. Out of desperation, boredom, not sure which. And there was the time he tried to smuggle a book into church and dropped it in the parking lot.

Ruined a good thing for M & I. LOL. Mom used to let us sit up in the balcony at church as long as we behaved. So I'd sneak my book in in my purse - ah, the days of big purses! - and stick it in the bible. Did all the stand-up, sit-down, kneeling stuff while reading. Everyone thought I was reading the bible during Mass. Ah, such a devoted girl! We had to sit downstairs with Mom & Dad after that. :( I'm not sure which was worse. Getting busted for reading during Mass, or having the priest ask what my sister and I were signing to each other during the service. Man, he had eyes like a hawk! Mom hadn't even seen that!

Anyway. My brothers kids like to read, but aren't as fanatical from the little I know (I don't see them often enough!) as my sister and I were/are. My sister's little girl likes to read. But she's so young now, it's hard to tell if it'll stick.

My little sister loves to read. The older she gets, the more she wants to read. It's fascinating to watch. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing myself at that age discovering books; the possibilities are boundless, worlds to discover and explore...

Why do I watch this?

I must admit that I have some strange TV viewing habits. As a friend of mine would say, TV viewing at all is a strange habit. It drives her crazy when sometimes I'll go "Hey, I'll call you back in an hour, I want to watch this show..." And I sheepishly admit, I've become very good at having conversations on the phone with a show on mute, closed-captioning enabled, of course. ;) It's pretty easy when it's a repeat 've already seen a dozen times.

So, my lineup of shows that I watch regularly are:

The Waltons (bit embarrassed to admit this)
Law & Order (the original & SVU)
Medium
Heroes (thanks Sis, like I needed another addiction. LOL.)
HGTV (too many to list!)
History Channel (especially religious documentaries, histories)
Forensic Files
Cold Case Files
A Haunting (when I remember it's on, and am not feeling too spooked. Usually it's on mute w/CC. Or I freak out.)

Early Saturday and Sunday mornings usually find me half-awake on the sofa watching "Curb Appeal", "Clean Sweep" and the like.

But perhaps my most interesting show fascinations (to me at least, because they're very out of character) are these:

Wife Swap
Biggest Loser
Jon & Kate plus 8
Little People, Big World

Not sure what the deal is on these. Especially Jon & Kate plus 8. I mean, I like kids, but am so not into the whole parent thing. Maybe it's because while watching it I can't help but think "OMG, if that was me it'd be a train wreck!" Maybe it's some kind of strange lifestyle validation. [g]

For those of you unfamiliar with the show, it's about a young couple that couldn't have kids, went the medical treatment route, had twin girls, decided to have another child, and ended up with SEXTUPLETS. Miraculously, all with no major health issues. But now, as they said on the show, they have "Two six year olds and six two year olds." Train wreck, right?

Not so much. I cannot believe how organized this woman is. Her house is cleaner than mine, (Mom, you did not just read that) ,and it's just me and the dog. And she and her husband are hilarious, I think.

And that's not the only show on TLC on families with multiple kids. There are actually several with a dozen or more kids...one even has sixteen! So for months I've been watching these shows...It must have been percolating in my brain, because one day last week, my determinedly-childless self was standing in the kitchen making something (can't remember what) and thought about what would happen to those kids if the parents died.

In typical geek fashion, I thought "Who'd be the backup?" I mean, being backup to one or two kids is one thing. But back-up to eight????? Thank God, the Goddess, whoever, whatever is in charge, that between them my brother and sister only have 4. And that's when my brain went "OMG Nat, YOU'RE the backup."

LOL. I'd never thought of myself that way. :) Don't get me wrong, I love all my nieces and nephew and would take any and all of them in if necessary (God forbid, knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, add any other rite/ritual to protect, I hope it's NEVER necessary)Anyway. It was just a weird moment.

*Ok, on second thought I'm editing this post to include the following, for my own safety. ;) I fully realize that I am not the only backup, and that there are grandparents and additional siblings serving as backup. Nor does this post express the wishes of either set of parents of these children! ;) *

All from my eclectic TV viewing habits. Maybe I should turn that thing off.