Poop and the Ray Family

I had to think twice before posting this. But my daughter Charlotte (the author; college graduation picture to the right) and my wife said it was OK —  and since others have enjoyed and laughed — well, I thought I’d share it with a wider audience.
Charlotte was writing to a friend who was a medic in Iraq to prepare him to meet our family. We have taken my aged parents into our home. My son and his family are renting their house out so they can live with us to help with my parents — since we are traveling six months out of the year. He and Anna have four kids from seven years old down to one year old.
So we have four generations living in our home, from one year old up to ninety-one years old. My parents are celebrating their 71st anniversary. (See their picture on my couch below.)
So, here is our daughter’s e-mail to her friend who was preparing to come home from Iraq.
“I can’t wait for you to come to Michigan and meet my family. I hope SO much that you like them.

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We are kind of a strange family as you can already probably tell, but I think it’s great! I think we are like the family in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. We are noisy, we are happy, we are opinionated, and we laugh at just about anything.
We are made up of 10 months old all the way to 91 years old! Weird things go on in my house. I was just thinking about it last night and it really hit me just how weird and funny (and strange) some of the things are.

For instance … pooping is a really big deal in my house! Ha ha. With 3 kids, a baby, and now a constipated grandpa of 91 years old, when someone poops you are bound to hear about it! Even if it’s just “MOM, I POOPED, COME WIPE ME!”.

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(Picture to right: Bella under my desk).
Last night Anna caught baby Bella just as she was pushing and about to poop in her diaper so she set her on the toilet to see what would happen. I think every single person in my family was crowded into the bathroom laughing and clapping and taking pictures of little baby Bella pooping on the huge toilet! The kids STILL haven’t stopped talking about it!
We don’t crowd around and clap for my grandpa or anything, but we do congratulate him, share the good news, and write it down in his hospice journal. LOL. This is really making me laugh writing this!
It’s really not as bad as it sounds, we are not a gross family I promise. We are refined and well educated too
so it’s not all bad. Is your family crazy or are they really prim and proper?”
I have to say, I love being a father, a grandfather a son — and a family. God knew what he was doing!