Eleven?

Recently we were in Michigan for the wedding of a friend Robbie had grown up with.  It was a great wedding, traditional Catholic wedding mass followed by a huge Italian wedding reception.  It was a little unusual in that the wedding was on a Friday afternoon.  Plus the priest felt he needed to give a history of their church before the bride came down the aisle. Plus he gave a play by play of what was happening and why.  Um, 90% of the people in attendance were Catholic.   And of the other 10% most have been to Catholic weddings before.  We really didn't need a John Madden voice over of the proceedings.

But that wasn't the weirdest part about the trip.  No the strangest was the mini van in front of us with the window stickers representing the members of the family.  We were stopped behind them at a red light and I started counting the little stick figures next to the dad and mom ones and came up with eleven. Eleven!  All I could think was "I hope to god they aren't all in that car!"

Of course I had to send a pic message to a few friends.  We decided that they were either Catholic or rabbits.  One friend suggested that they just might be Catholic rabbits.  Or maybe they just like sex.  From what I understand, no form of birth control is 100% effective.  Something like 99% effective would place them at having sex at least 1100 times.  That seems feasible for people without kids, but man, when would you ever find the time after the third or fourth baby?

The logistics of eleven children is what boggles my mind the most.  How do two people handle that many kids?  Wouldn't they need a small bus for all those kids instead of a mini-van?  Hell, how do you manage any more than two?  It seems to me that if you go beyond that you're blowing a man to man defense.  Beyond that, you're just outnumbered.   Would you have to rely on the older children to help take care of the younger ones?  And if you're one of those older children would you want kids of your own when you move out on your own and get into a relationship?

On some days we wonder how we could ever manage more than the one we have.  And she's not a difficult child.  We're asked all the time if we plan on having more. We would like to, but it's not as easy for us as the couple who own the pictured min-van.  Obviously.  Plus we keep going back and forth on various questions.  Such as: Would another girl be better than a boy? (Not that we have a say, it's just a consideration)  What happens if the process takes another 2 1/2 years?  I'm quickly approaching 50 and the thought of having a child still in high school when I'm ready to retire is just mind boggling.  If that birth mother wants to be involved how that would make Riley feel later on in life?  Can we even afford another child?  One thing is certain, we definitely won't be needing eleven kid stickers on the back window of our car.