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Ya, you betcha we are! |
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My Family: Home Page My Immediate Family My Nuclear Family Extended Family: Sundholm Arlington's
Family page Pauline's Birthday Celebration 2007 Extended Family: Dietzler |
I grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in a town named Arnold (Population: 72). The "U.P." is known for its friendly people, beautiful scenery, and harsh winters. Here's an idea of what the winters of my first 18 years were like:
Arnold, situated in the southernmost tip of Marquette county, is about 55 miles from the Lake Superior shoreline, so we didn't see snow banks quite this high. But believe me, it was freakin' cold, and I have seen snow in every month of the year except July. Comprising 4% of Arnold's total population were me, my mom (Meridy) and my brother (Sean). For the first 5 years of my life, we lived in a town called Felch. It's about 35 miles from Arnold, and most of my family still lives there.
Sean and I were raised by my Mom and her family. I have met my biological father just once, when I was about 2 years old--a visit that I do not remember. He basically abandoned my Mom when he found out she was pregnant. I don't associate with his family, nor do I know how many aunts, uncles, or cousins I have on that side. (Don't be sad. I'm not!) Since my dad wasn't around, my Grandpa and my three uncles--Stu, Kevin (aka Kemo), and Marty--played major roles in my upbringing. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything! Even disregarding my paternal relatives, I have over five hundred (yes, 500) living relatives, with whom I am in contact or have at least met once or twice. In late 2006, I started writing a quarterly newsletter for the biggest family--my Mom's Dad's side of the family--which has over 425 members. In my immediate family there are just nine: me, Derek, Mom, my step-dad David, my brother Sean, his wife Celina, and their three kids, Elayna, Shawna, and Marty. What I call my "nuclear" family--aunts, uncles, and first cousins--is about 30 people. And beyond that--second and third cousins and various degrees of "removed"--is where we get into the really big numbers. My Aunt Helen, for example (Grandpa's sister), has over 120 living descendants alone. She had 11 kids, and they each had a few, and so on and so on.
Grandpa Arlie had a profound impact
on my life. I have searched and searched, but have not been able to find
any pictures of us together, except for this one (above) when I was a baby. This
saddens me beyond belief! We were VERY close! Hey family...if anyone has any pictures of me and Grandpa, please
let
me know!
We have great genes when it comes
to mental health. Grandpa Arlie left us all his silly sense of humor, as
well as his musical inclination.
Grandpa also left me a gene that
no one else seems to have--or at least no one is crazy enough to admit having:
I can speak entire sentences backwards....in reverse phonetic order, so that if
you were to record me, and play it backwards, it would sound "right."
How did I discover this
completely useless talent? Well, it was more of a journey than a
discovery; I didn't just wake up one day and realize, "Hey, I can speak
backwards." It took years and years of practice, but it was Grandpa
Sundholm and a 1980s TV show that got me started. So here's the
story....Grandpa was a punster, and I adored him. I copied a lot of things
that he did--probably far more than I can remember. I have a very vivid
memory of standing on the toilet--barely old enough to stand--while Grandpa
shaved, listening to him switch words and letters around until they had
completely different meaning. He said things like: This fog is as thick as sea poop
(pea soup). Did you see that butterfly
flutter by? At dinner: Eat every potato
and pee on your plate (pea on your plate). She's got freckles on her butt,
she is nice (freckles on her, but she is nice). There are a million more.
Then, when I was around 9 or 10, I saw and heard someone speak backwards on a
TV show called "Real People." They actually recorded the guest's speech, and
then played it in reverse on some special equipment to see whether it was
correct or not. I clearly remember listening to "Nussniveets piks," which
in reverse is "Skip Stevenson," who was one of the stars of the show. The
other was Sarah Purcell, or "Lessrup uhrace." It is a mutation of the
Grandpa "punster" gene, plus years and years of uncontrollable
in-my-brain practice after seeing Real People, which allows me to speak backwards phonetically.
I'd really love to get my hands on some of that equipment that plays in reverse,
so I could prove to people that I'm not speaking gibberish. Most people
think it's cool, but some skeptics say, "How can you prove it?" One guy at
Derek's high school reunion actually asked me to stop, because "Sister, you got
the DEVIL in you!" An odd thing about this:
it's not like learning a foreign language (although people tell me it sort of
sounds like Russian). On the rare occasion that someone on TV speaks
backwards as part of a comedy sketch (they did it on Stephen Colbert in early
2007), I can't understand what they're saying. If I play it really, really
slowly, and then try to iterate what they just said--in reverse--I eventually
get there. But I can't understand another backwards speaker the same as if
I was conversing in my 3rd-grade-level Swedish with someone. This may be
because I've never had anyone to converse with; no one ever speaks back (except,
of course, the voices in my head. They think that I am downright hilarious). |
