Do My Siblings and I Need Oprah?

Even though I am a little behind, this is my S post for the ABC meme that I participate in.

I have three sisters and two brothers.

In relation to me, the order of birth is this:
Me the oldest
Elaine is 16 months younger
Ray 3 years younger

Johanna 11, years younger
Adam 13 years younger
Marie 14 years younger

As you can see, my parents had me, Elaine and Ray, then waited 11 years and had another set of three.
I never thought to ask my mother why this was.  At the time I guess I was too young to question it.
When Johanna was born, I was just thrilled to have a real baby girl doll to take care of.

My memory of the time when we were kids is that we were a tight knit family.  Since we lived in a small three bedroom ranch house, we sort of had to be.    At various times the sleeping arrangements were a combination of bunk beds and pull out sofas.

My parent's marriage was pretty stormy, as each one of my siblings will attest to.

Obviously growing up under those conditions shaped who we are today and probably played a large part in our relationship with each other.

As we grew up and moved on with our lives, we still managed to find time to be a part of each other's lives.

I guess my Mom was the glue that held us together.   She was the point of contact, the town crier.  We each would visit or call her and then she would pass on our news to the others when they called or visited.

That's how each of us always knew what was going on in the other's lives.

Over the years there have been some minor breaks, serious fractures, and one on-going irreparable damage to each of our relationships.

One particularly difficult fracture resulted in a couple of years worth of a combination of a number of us not speaking to one or the other.

During that time I remember watching one of those Oprah reunion shows.
You know the ones where someone finds out that she has siblings that she has never met.   (Actually it happened to Oprah herself. )

Anyway, as I sat there trying to hold back the tears, (those shows always make me cry) I remember thinking, here we were, my siblings and I, we have what those people have been looking for all of their lives and we don't even speak to each other.

My mom was still alive during that particularly bad one, but she couldn't very well take sides.  Actually I think she rather enjoyed the drama, but that is for another post.

I think, I, as the first born, may have orchestrated some peace talks and eventually we were each able to (sort of) patch things up, be cordial to one another and actually have some laughs.

I have so many memories of times with each one of my siblings ranging from wonderful to horrible.

After my Mom passed away, almost two years ago,  the personal contact we have with each other has gotten less and less.

We now get the news of each other from Facebook.

How sad is that?

I am curious about other sibling relationships.  Is ours typical?  What is yours like?

I wonder if those families that Oprah re-united would feel the same about their siblings if they had always been a part of their lives.

I miss my family.  I suppose more so now for me during a most difficult time.

I wonder if Oprah would consider coming back to do a special reunion show for us.

Here is a short video of my Mom and my siblings gathered together on a Christmas eve four years ago.
It is the way I like to remember the times we shared.