A full house

The woman who recently delivered octuplets has created quite the stir, especially since she had six little kids at home and no husband to speak of. However, for the most part, I truly admire people with large families, no matter how they were conceived.

Take the McCaughey septuplets, for example. If anyone is equipped to handle that many children, that woman certainly is, plus she has a great husband to boot. I followed that family with rapt interest. She gave birth right before I did almost 11 years ago. I remember because every time I would moan or complain about the 7 lb. 8 oz. baby growing inside me, my husband would say, “I bet Bobbi McCaughey is out plowing the fields right now.” He slept on the couch a lot.

When I was a girl, I imagined myself with a large family of four or more children. We settled on three, and even though I only have two at home, I still have trouble keeping up. For instance, we all went to the dentist recently and came home with little packets containing new toothbrushes and dental floss that were free with our $200 cleaning.

Later in the week, I remembered my new toothbrush and grabbed the closest sack. I noticed the top of the box was opened, but, not thinking anything about it, pulled it out and began using it.

Later in the week, my extremely neat and organized daughter came to me with the toothbrush in hand.

“Have you been using this?”

“Yes.”

“This is my special toothbrush that the orthodontist gave me for my braces. See his name on the bottom?”

“It was in the box!” I said.

“Yes,” she said, patiently, as if talking to a child. “I put it back in the box when I’m done with it.”

“I’m sorry. It’s still good. I only used it a few times,” I said.

“That’s okay. You can have it. I have another one upstairs.”

“What are we going to do with you, Mom?” asked my son, patting me on the back and shaking his head with a serious expression, as if he were really contemplating it.

Maybe I should give Bobbi McCaughey a call. I'm sure she'd have some ideas.