"Are all these your kids?"

Without exception the number one question we get while traveling is: "Are all those kids yours?!" We have been asked this question in hotels, campgrounds, restaurants, national parks, grocery stores, planes, trains, the mall, the parking lot, the sidewalk, you get the picture.

I don’t know why people think they should ask this question or what response they think I will give:

"No these are not on my children. We run a mobile daycare for kids who look like us."

"Of course not! No fool would have five children in 10 years!"

"We take disadvantaged kids to public places for fun, duh.”

"Heavens no two of them are my kids two of them are her kids and we borrowed one from a neighbor. We thought it would be would be fun to take all five of them to ice cream."

Or maybe,

"We lost a bet."

I know there are families much larger than ours. However, I admit we do look like a middle school field trip whenever we go out. Some people seem to have disdain that we would have so many children. Others just find it interesting in sort of a carnival-sideshow away. We even overheard two people at a dinner party say when they heard we had five children "Can you imagine?"

Like comedian Jim Gaffigan says, “Large families are like waterbed stores. There used to be a lot of them but now they are kind of creepy."

Some people come to us and say wistfully, "I grew up in a large family." Some people have even been teary-eyed and expressed how they wished they had more children of their own. Everyone has reasons for asking the question: curiosity, contempt, admiration, because they feel so overwhelmed with their own two children or something else—who can say? I have no idea why people ask.

But I do know how to answer: YES! These are our five wonderful children! I love telling people we have five children because I love being with them. I have loved every adventure we have ever taken. I am sad for those who for whatever reason could not or did not have a large family. I am keenly aware of how much pain that causes so many. I admit I do not understand those who do not like children and or never wanted a family. I can't imagine a life without mine. Why would it be fun to go on a vacation if you didn't have to try to figure out sleeping arrangements for seven, let alone trying to feed everyone and come in on budget? So I am not frustrated or annoyed when people ask the question. I'm thrilled to have a conversation about our wonderful, chaotic, noisy brilliant bunch, and, yes, they are mine. All of them.