Many people have misconceptions when they consider what it is like to grow up in a large family. For starters, the idea of what people generally consider to be big is quite skewed. I have met people who consider three children to be a large family, and I have known others who don't consider a family to be abnormally big until there are at least ten children.

I have six siblings, which means that my parents raised seven children. Once people realize this, they often shyly ask if they are all "you know...theirs?" By this, they mean to ask if we are a blended family, or if any of the children were adopted, to which the answer is no. My parents had all seven of us together. I happen to be the sixth child, with only my younger sister behind me. I often joke that it was like I had two sets of parents—my mom and dad, alongside with all of my older siblings. Although I say this in a teasing way, it actually is true. My parents had the oldest four siblings directly in a row and then went on to take a six year break before they decided to have my brother who is one-and-a-half years older than me. I shortly followed, and then they waited two years before having their youngest child. Because of the large age gap (my oldest brother is thirteen years older than me), I was never short on guidance and advice. Sometimes I asked for it, sometimes I did not, but I always came to appreciate the wisdom that they shared with me.

Along with the more serious side of having older siblings, came the fun things. Mom and dad didn't have time to take me to do something that I wanted to do? No problem, one of my four wonderful siblings nearly always swooped in for the rescue. Carefully observing every move of my two teenage sisters meant that I admired and could hardly wait to wear makeup, have my own job, go on a date and have sleepovers with my best friends. I thought my older brothers were the funniest and most handsome men in the world, and I loved when they went out of their way to play with me. The younger half of us siblings comprised of me, my slightly older brother and my slightly older sister. They were my best friends growing up (even if I thought I was too cool to admit it), and I would still say they are my best friends now. We still sit around and laugh at all of the mischief we got into as younger children. My older brother and I often teamed up to agitate our little sister, my sister and I worked together to aggravate our brother and they often joined forces to bother me.

Looking back, I realize how important those times were for us to get to know one another as individuals. Still, among my favorite were the memories we created when all three of us were together. All seven of us siblings are incredibly different and unique. Although you will find many similarities in appearance and personality here and there, we mostly couldn't be any different from one another. I am so thankful for that. Brad is the oldest, and his personality certainly reflects that. He could walk into any room filled with chaos and immediately become the leader, quickly creating a functional environment. Jason is the most easy going and laid back of all. He is full of big ideas and for a lack of a better word, I would label him as "chill." Ashley is our go-getter. She was the first to attend a four year university, the first to get married, the first to have a child. She is the most goal-oriented, and will work incredibly hard to make her dreams come true. Jessica is the very middle of us, and I would call her the core. She is very quick to mediate any negative situation and is a very good listener and shoulder to cry on. I think a lot of us really rely on Jessica. Jacob is the funny one. He has the most unique and clever sense of humor, and everybody who spends time with him nearly always ends up laughing. He is so lovable. Then there is me. I would probably call myself the oddball, and I say this because I genuinely believe that I have an equal amount of every single one of my siblings in me. This makes me my own person obviously, because I am a combination of so many drastic traits. But I still firmly believe that I am who my siblings are. Last but not least, is the baby of the family, Mary. She is the charmer. She could probably melt the hearts of every last one of us. This isn't because she is manipulative, because she is actually quite the opposite. She is truly just that sweet and cute and helpful. She is the perfect caboose to our long train of family. We are all very different, but very much the same.

I would be an entirely different person if I hadn't grown up in such a large family, and I would say that most of my sibilings feel the same. I really just love them all so much!