Monday, October 17, 2011

Introducing My Family

I love little details. Do you? I also love people. (I'm not even going to ask if you do, too, because I'm sure you do.) When I read someone's blog, I like to read posts that are personal. Unfortunately, in this crazy world, it isn't safe for me to post freely (on a public blog) about myself and my family. For this reason, I haven't told you my real name, nor where I live. You know me as Miss Dashwood, and frankly I find that fun. It's like having an alter ego. :P

Anyway, I'd like to be able to tell you about things that happen in my life (with discretion of course) but since I'm still living at home with my family, my family is naturally going to be a central part of what goes on in my life! And since it's awkward to be constantly referring to "my sister--no, not that one, the other one", I've decided to nickname each of my family members. My parents I can refer to as Mother and Father (or Mom and Daddy) without worrying about their privacy :), but my siblings are another matter. So I have chosen some names for my siblings that, I think, fit them very well.

I should tell you that I, Miss Dashwood, am the eldest child in my family. (Any other firstborn ladies out there?) Now that that's out of the way, I can share a little about my siblings.

"Anne" is next in line after me. She and I are as close as sisters could be: she tells me everything and I tell her everything. This sounds cliche, I know, but we literally are best friends. Anne is romantic and passionate, dreamy and imaginative, unbelievably funny, tenderhearted and caring. She is NOT a redhead, but she would very much like to be one. :)

"Molly" is gentle and sweet, conscientious and fun-loving. She likes to be outdoors and she loves animals of all shapes and sizes. She and I are very much alike and share many common interests. Molly is a real bookworm and has been known to bring home stacks of 15 or 16 books from our local public library, fully dedicated to the "improvement of her mind by extensive reading". :)


"Laura" is our family imp--mischievous, cute and with a rather unfortunate talent for drawing painfully accurate caricatures. :) Tenderhearted and caring for all living creatures and small things, she loves just about anything that crawls, creeps, flies or swims. Artsy and creative, Laura isn't too fond of schoolwork, but she plays the piano, sings, draws, covers screens and I know not what.

(Note: It isn't at all difficult to describe my one and only brother; the difficult part of this post was finding a period drama character to which I could compare him! I finally settled on Jeremiah Kincaid from the lovely old family film So Dear to My Heart. Technically that's not a period drama, but have you ever considered how few little boys there are in period dramas? I'm not about to compare my brother with Mary Musgrove's little terrors, after all!)

"Jerry" is the youngest member of our family, the only little guy in our girl world. He doesn't mind, though--being the youngest has its benefits. Jerry is fast developing a love of books, and I'm delightedly encouraging that as much as possible. He loves being outdoors, getting dirty, eating, singing (loudly) and watching Disney movies--in short, he's all boy.

I couldn't possibly close this post without mentioning my wonderful parents. They share my love of reading, my passion for music and the outdoors, and my fascination with history. My mom introduced me to Jane Austen when I was fourteen, and my dad has diligently fostered my love of Dickens. I don't have pictures to share with you, because honestly my parents are incomparable--there are no two people in my knowledge of period drama as special as they!

So, that's my family. I'm looking forward to sharing more family-oriented posts with you as this blog develops!

11 comments:

Miss Laurie of Old-Fashioned Charm said...

How lovely! I always enjoy hearing about other people's families because people are so fascinating. The names/characters you chose to liken your siblings to are lovely!
'So Dear To My Heart' is one of my family's favorites, my grandmother especially loved this film and the song 'Lavender Blue' in it. :)
Your blog has just been taking off and I've enjoyed reading as many posts as my schedule allows, especially your Period Drama Heroines posts. I look forward to much more!

Melody said...

Well, with you and your 'Anne' sister, maybe you should be Cassandra Austen and she can be Jane, since you're so close. ;D
(It's universally acknowledged among Janeites that Cassandra and Jane were 'as close as sisters can be'...recently I read a letter Cassandra wrote to one of their nieces after Jane died; it was so sad, but so sweet.)

Julia Rogers said...

Who would you describe your parents as? I would love it if you would "post" them as some actor and actress.
Love your family!!!!
They sound like soo much fun!

Miss Dashwood said...

Miss Laurie,
You're a fellow fan of So Dear to My Heart? I'm thrilled!!
Melody,
LOL, we have sometimes compared ourselves to Jane and Cassandra--except Anne is the artist and I'm the writer in the family. Where did you read Cassandra's letter? I would like to read that.
Julia,
Well, frankly there aren't, to my knowledge, any parents in period drama that I could compare my Mom and Dad to, because they're just too unique and special! I guess my dad is a lot like Mr. Knightley though (with a dash of Mr. Bennet's humor thrown in), and I could liken my mom to Caroline Ingalls in LHOTP.
Do you have a blog, Julia?

Melody said...

Ah! I see. ;-)

Well, I actually read it in the Letters of Jane Austen book...at the end, it had a couple from Cassandra after Jane died. But, here, I have found you a link from the ever-useful Pemberley. com:

http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/brablt17.html#letter95

Miss Dashwood said...

Thanks, Melody!

Jeremiah Flintwinch said...

Miss Dashwood's father (an avid reader of the blog) identifies as signed here (from Little Dorrit) and considers himself almost as handsome.

-Jeremiah Flintwinch

Miss Dashwood said...

Daddy, you are much better looking than Jeremiah Flintwich--though I do have to commend you for an extremely creative username. But please don't convince Mom to sign in as Mrs. Bennet. :)

Anonymous said...

My Dear Sister Miss Dashwood,
I was so delighted with your comparing me to Anne that i changed my user name and profile. As I'm sure you have noticed.

Julia you're right! Our family is a lot of fun! If I do say so myself.

Oh my dear sister I must say i love love love love this blog! I'm still astonished that i didn't recognize your writing style when i came across it!
Love your sister,
The Anne-girl

Julia Rogers said...

Hello Miss Dashwood, No I dont have a personal, blog yet ,....yet but i am hoping to get one VERY SOON!!!!! BUT, ...we DO have a family blog, if you click my name in blue you will see it i think, but it is currently not working,..sooo sorry but i hope it will be soon!
Ps. When(if) you get on our site, the pix at the top are of us and I'm the tall one of the 2 sisters in lavender.
:)
God Bless!!

Miss Laurie of Old-Fashioned Charm said...

I was just re-reading this post because I was thinking about you and your family. This is still a wonderful post!
I liked the comment your dad made about being Jeremiah Flintwinch, hehe! It's exactly like something my dad would do only he'd probably have likened himself to Mr. Smallweed from Bleak House just so he could quote "shake me up Judy!" :)
It would be lovely to become personally acquainted with your imaginative family, maybe one day...
I'm the oldest in my family too, it's fun but a big responsibility sometimes. :)