Little Alexx Blog

about a month ago was my annual family beach vacation. We’ve been doing a beach vacation together since I was a kid, regardless of what was happening and where everyone was, we set aside time to be together by the beach. This year was a bit different though, because everyone invited someone to come along. Nick brought his girlfriend Greysee and Bella brought along her best friend Haven. I… brought along, well, just me. To be honest, I felt like I was 7th wheeling the week. Oh well, I had no one to impress, as I put on goggles in the ocean to dive and see under the water (super super sexy, unfortunately I don’t have a photo of me in my goggle glory) It was a solid week, full of lots of laughing, yelling, relaxing at the beach, and gaslighting mom.

Before I left, I was down for a few days with a bug (flu??) idk. But I was feeling gross. I did however test for Covid 3 times and each time came back negative. Woo! The morning I left, I was feeling 1000% times. Guess it was my body telling me to chill out for a sec. After flying in at 9am, mom and Dimitri picked me up from the airport and we went straight to the beach with the rest of the kids. It’s funny, I have always felt sooo much older than my siblings, always the babysitter older sister, helping mom keep her chicks in line. Well, everyone has grown up before my eyes! Nick is 20, Bella is 18, and Dimitri is almost 16. Before, I feel like my siblings were my little baby siblings, but now they are my friends.

It was very apparent how much we have all changed when we went over to the harborwalk by the water the first night, met some people, and listened to music. I didn’t have to keep an eye on them, making sure they stayed near me holding my hand. Yeah, I’m a total mom. Instead, we were able to just hang out??? Who knew??? I feel like everyone around me all has adult siblings, whereas I feel like I have a very young family, me being the eldest.

Maybe it was the fact I was also so much taller than my siblings (everyone has thankfully caught up with me) or what, but I still think Nick is 15, Bella will forever be 12, and Dimitri is forever 6. I remember telling my mom one time, really worried, that I thought the kids were going to be ugly. I was really concerned. Nick and bella were the same height for so long and had little buck teeth with front gaps. Bella always looked like a mess, food stained on her face and clothes, and Dimitri in his pajamas and goggles on.

Nick is notoriously known for not knowing what is going on, always the last to get news. We joke that he would be the kid from the movie Home Alone because no one had told him we would be going on vacation. However, he’s gotten better. I do give credit to his girlfriend Greysee, who I will never actually admit to liking, even though I do. Her first interaction with us last Christmas was special. I feel like I put up a good front, tough older sister. No one is good enough for my brother. Anyways, she got him a really sweet Christmas present and because I’m an emotional weirdo, I cried. And because my family are also emotional weirdos, we all cried. Oy vay. Nick is just sweeter and softer when he is around her. He isn’t as quick to anger, unlike me, when we were coming home from Greek night back in May. I can’t even tell this story without cracking up, so mind you that I’m cackling typing this. We were coming home late from Greek night in Springfield. I was on Aux and because I’m 80, I was listening to soft music while I drive. Nick however was struggling to stay awake and as he began to tell me to change the music, I found out that my flight information for the following day was canceled so I was freakin out and honestly, completely forgot that Greysee was quietly sitting in the back while I HOWLED AND SCREAMED at Nick for daring to try to turn off the music to stay awake that was essentially keeping me from jumping out of the car… no… I’m not dramatic at all…. Anyways, I didn’t scare Greysee away so I guess she passed the test.

I forget that Bella is actually like a person sometimes. She always wanted my name and I always wanted hers. She has stolen more clothes of mine than I can count and I make it a personal mission to steal something of hers and see how long she can go without noticing. I’m putting myself out there right now. Bella. I took your jeans shorts and pink leggings because frankly, they looked really cute on me. love you. Anyways. Back to the non person comment. Bella is 12. Forever, In my mind, annoyed by my music taste in our shared bedroom in the shack, with her cute little dimples and long hair I have always been jealous of. Bella is the “girls girl” of all girls. I don’t have the skill nor the patience to make friends the way she does. They literally gravitate towards her and she is just so much fun and “cool” you know what I mean? She isn’t cool because she tries to be cool but because she naturally exudes the coolness. Also, she has an ass to die for and my teeny tiny butt will never be as thick as she is (sad face).

Dimitri is well. Dimitri. He is taller than all of us now, and has a little mustache which we love and also hate. I think my favorite thing about Dimitri is when he tells a story and makes himself laugh. Literally, he will laugh until he cries. It’s the cutest thing in the world, with his face all red and his little freckles on his cheeks. D is fun, full of ridiculous stories and will tell everyone and everything our family life story, including personal details that should stay between us. Obviously he means well and most people find him utterly charming, as mom constantly reminds us that he is her favorite child and by far her most beautiful child.

I think we are cute in our own ways, with the same dimples and same scrunch of our noses and throwing our head back in laughter as mom does. We all get it from mom. The ridiculousness of our jokes, how we can’t help but laugh at the own stories we tell, regardless if we have told them once or 20 times. They get better each time. We fight hard and love hard. And fight again and come back together. And no matter how mad at each other we can be, we always will answer in the group family chat, sending awful photos back and forth of each other to use as what, dirt on the other person?? Who knows really.

Every beach vacation, mom has always brought XXL white tshirts to take pictures in. We have been doing the white shirt photo since I was a kid, always on the beach, looks a little cult like but I digress. Well. This year was a bit different, as she pulled out an XL in children sizes. Thankfully we are all small people so the shirts fit us, but looked way different from before…

Mama. The matron of getting an over amount of groceries and forever telling me to get up out of my beach chair and go swim with her. Thank you for picking me up from the airport and getting us a place every year for the beach. Thank you for feeding us, as we continue to not make you the bagel and cream cheese you ask us for. Thank you for dealing with our little sibling fights and finishing braiding my hair when I am mad at Bella. Thank you for letting me cry to you about absolutely everything under the sun and answering my phone calls when I call you 6 times a day to just say hey and tell you about the lunch I just made. I love how I got your laugh and your smile and how much of a lightweight we are and how we can always be down for appetizers and make a full meal of them. I love how much I look like you, our mutual love for sitting and watching movies and you casually pulling out a huge bag of m&m’s and handing me some like a little mama bird, I love how much I can make you laugh, and just your overall consuming love you have for each of us, even though we all know I am your favorite.

And well, there’s just me. Damn girl, rock on bitch.

https://youtu.be/9n5G0qFBsHM

blessings, a