My brothers and I took a walk this afternoon. In the rain. It wasn't a heavy rain...just a nice wet drizzle, plus it was in the high 50s. We had all been feeling a little sluggish and the rain was really refreshing.

Naturally, our neighbors thought we were weird. "Look at you!" shouts one lady, pulling up alongside us in her SUV. "You're getting wet, you know." Yeah. We know. She wanted to give us a ride home, but we assured her that we wanted to be outside and weren't finished walking. That wasn't the only peculiar look we got, although she was the only one to stop.

Perhaps what seemed strangest to our very "normal" neighbors, is that the four of us were out walking together. Our neighbors have already expressed their thoughts at how odd our family is.... Patrick and I don't let the world know when we want to lock our little brothers up, and we actually enjoy each other's company. In their eyes, we're freaks.

Not that any of us are perfect siblings....I confess, when we took Jon and Andrew for a walk it DID cross my mind more than once that what were were doing might be compared to walking dogs; they run ahead yapping and giggling and Patrick (the leash?) pulls them back and makes them quiet down. But we were enjoying ourselves, and I always find myself wishing that our neighbors and their children/siblings could find as much pleasure in each other's company.

Now, if you'll all excuse me while I go beat on the younger two for a moment....