What was your family known for? We were lackadaisical kids who brought home atlases from school

[applegrove]

and forgot to return them. Someone kindly stacked them up in a bookcase and I counted 6 one time. Everytime I would think of returning them to school I would immediately forget. I lost my retainor many times and ended up in the large garbage containor at school looking for it in the trash. My brothers were always late for school despite the fact they lived across the street from it. The tradition continues with my sister's kids who got the missing sandal award from their summer camp because they were always missing things. We are just bumbling fools with our noses in books.

[cyberswede]

1. We were a bunch of

know-it-all spelling nazis.

Still are; it's lackadaisical.

Just kiddin' - I enjoyed your post.

[ohiosmith]

2. Incorrigible smart-asses. Why? I don't know!

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. I think we were the "musical family."

House filled with instruments, far more than any of us were formally studying but still were playing (with).

[elleng]

4. Our flower garden!

Dad planned it to be in flower through seasons, and my high school driver's ed teacher drove classes by the house as often as possible!

[applegrove]

5. We had great gardens too. There is nothing like beautiful flowers.

[Broken_Hero]

6. Our family was known to keep our word, and for yelling, nt

[Chan790]

7. small-town rednecky minor organized crime.

The town my grandparents lived in was very-small and isolated. The town was at that time dirt-poor...think Appalachia: no running water, wells, no indoor plumbing, functionally life hadn't changed much since 1850; now it's a wealthy suburb of Hartford. They had 5 brilliant morally-questionable kids and 60 more distant relations. My uncles knew everybody and got away with anything. They stole all the fish out of the fish hatchery, they scammed the rich folks in the next town over, they conspired to fix class elections, they "borrowed" the principal's car...then they all grew up...and nothing changed. At the same time, my grandmother was elected to the CTGOP state committee and my grandfather decided that there was no town council or committee meeting too small for him to go raise hell: in 50 years the only town-council, zoning, school-board, wetlands, maintenance, budget, library, fire department meeting he ever missed were the ones the day before he went to bed and died of a heart attack. He once gained the floor of a school-board meeting and held it for 4 hours over the price of #2 pencils then horse-traded for a raise for the teachers. He loved kids, advocated for better (but cheaper) education and despised the school board.

Through all of it, my mother was the queen bee. She never did anything wrong, others were more than happy to do it for her. Some boy stole her lunch money and my uncles stole the kids clothes and sent him walking home from school naked with a note explaining why they stole his clothes. Even when they were unwanted, they were present. Some boy would hold her hand at recess and my uncle Bob would send them home at the end of the day with a black-eye.

Even now, people in town bend to the will of my mother. She wins arguments because of her last name. The last election both parties called my mother to try to goad her into running for first selectman...I told she should have accepted both the Republican and Democratic nominations and run as the consensus candidate. No dice.

[bluesbassman]

8. There's a novel packed away in there Chan.

But you already know that right?

[HappyMe]

10. Oh, hell yeah.

I would read it.

[sakabatou]

9. The arts, education and law.

The arts: My dad and aunt are poets. My oldest brother worked backstage production, also played he sax. My older brother played the clarinet and was an actor. My sister-in-law worked in the film industry. I paint and play piano.

My brothers and I all were teachers/instructors at one point in our lives.

My oldest brother is a lawyer. My grandfather was a police commissioner.

I do paintings.

[Mopar151]

11. Large men with tools and determined women with mad skills. And a mountain of books to help figure it

When your shit is all fucked up in a big way, call the guys. If you need to make something awesome out of last week's trash, call the ladies.

[Mopar151]

15. Marrying educators is a family tradition.

The trivia contest at the family reunion will make your ears bleed!

[Phentex]

12. They were hippies/druggies/rebels...I never stood a chance!

The older ones did drugs and burned flags and started walkouts at school. One brother wrote an underground newspaper and was expelled from school for having his hair too long (laughable by today's standards - it was just ON his collar which was forbidden). One sister loved to skip school, take the assistant principal's car, etc. Another one had an affair with her teacher. Another one had a baby when she was 15. I could go on but you get the idea!

My mom was the poor widow with 7 kids who had to work days and nights. Our house was the one other parents were scared of!

[Mopar151]

13. And I bet you're all good people today

And you can point out more than 1 of the "nice kids" who's a full-blown sociopath.

[Phentex]

16. Not really all that great...

but no need to bring everybody down. I will say that compared to the others, I made it out much less damaged.

[frogmarch]

14. Ours was known as the family whose

members represented a variety of nationalities. The tradition continues.

[Myrina]

17. The older ones were 'no goods' (but not quite criminals) ...

.. and I was the 'redeemer' because I was the super-smart, well behaved honor roll student that never got detention.
Ever ... because I did all my partying and drinking and acting out by sneaking into bars AFTER school hours.

LMAO!!