Reply #8: Close. I spent my senior year with a large Catholic family in foster care.

[Cleita]

There were seven kids out of eight. One had died years before of typhoid. I was born the same year as the dead child and therefore sort of took her place in their eyes. Two older brothers and an older sister were married, but in that year one of the brothers moved back in with his wife and four toddlers. There was also a nephew who was going to college who shared a bedroom with the boys who were still at home. There were three bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths in the house. We all went to Catholic school and the main meat dish was venison, which the father and boys bagged during hunting season. There were plenty of beans and other basic food. Nothing was fancy but was cooked in quantities. There was always plenty to eat. Since the two teenage girls were close to my age, we all wore each others clothes and had to sleep on two beds. Usually the sisters took the double bed and I took a fold out cot in the room.

When the other family moved in we had to squeeze two girl toddlers into the beds with us. The boys had to do the same with the other two boy toddlers. The young married couple had to sleep in the dining room. Needless to say, the biggest surprise is that the household went 24 hours a day. There was always someone who was up, watching TV, doing homework or just reading. The father who was a milkman got up at three in the morning. There was always someone who was up to have coffee and breakfast for him. We did have a sit down dinner at a large dining room table that was like a banquet table. It also served as our desks to do our homework. I can't imagine living with the Duggars.

The kids grew up to have larger families than we have today four to five kids but none had as many as their parents did. I went to visit the parents years later and they had become an empty nest couple lamenting that there were no more children at home although they did get frequent visits from grandchildren. I guess they were more like the Lennons than the Duggars. All the kids did well too, going to college and becoming professionals.