Photo by Krista Westendorp, 2008
I have an older brother and sister. We used to fight like cats in a bag, mostly because we got on each other nerves all the time. Now that we're grown up, of course, we don't fight. We just clear our throats and complain about our bosses.
In 1969, when I was twelve, my family moved from South Chicago to Holland, Michigan. Holland is the home of the world-famous Tulip Time Festival. The coolest thing about Tulip Time was that schools let out early because so many kids were in the marching band, or were klompen dancers and stuff. I was not a joiner. On my Tulip-free afternoons I'd bicycle to Lake Michigan, spread out my beach towel, and get the first sunburn of the season.
I dropped in school and out of school. In 1981, I studied in Munich, Germany. (I still know all the words to Du Hast Mein Herz Geklaut). I met my husband during an in-school phase. He was sitting cross-legged on a table in the college coffee shop and eating a cup of strawberry yogurt.
That kind of thing is hard to resist.
My husband and I have three children, just like my parents did. Our children are much sweeter and kinder to each other than my siblings and I ever managed. They rarely fight. They do, however, gang up on us which is completely unfair.
We lived in scenic Ohio (Cincinnati, Steubenville, New Philadelphia, and wonderful, wonderful Zanesville) for exactly twenty years. We now live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where we intend to live happily ever after.