I was...in awe what the group of people I had the honor of calling my family since...well as long as I could remember.
"Ok Noelle. You now need a proper guide on how to survive the Burke Brothers!" Amanda began.
"James always has the best advice! You can count on him for any and everything. When you need to speak to James, give him a call on te phone and say things like 'What do you want' (even if you're the one that called him), 'Stop calling me!', 'What are you doing?', 'What's for dinner?', 'Buy me a present!', 'I'm your favorite sister!!', and......'You are pretty!!'. This will get you everything that you want from James" Amanda said, causing James to burst out laughing, along with everyone else.
"Jack is......Well what do I say about Jack? Smart-ass, funny, looks like he should live in the Middle East. Jack has pretty good taste in music and he can drink a beer like nobody's business! When you talk to Jack you need to tell him things like 'Hey I was talking to James and he said that the Steelers suck!' And then you say, 'Jack, I tried to tell James not to be so mean but he would not listen to me, the Steelers don't suck brother!'. It's always a good idea to start fights between the brothers!"
Amanda smiled and stuck her tongue out at James and Danny after that one.
"Danny is such a wonderful brother. If you are in a funk and you need a pick me up, call Danny! You can quote movies and TV shows for a good laugh! It also helps that if you are mad at the other two, Danny is good for making fun of James and Jack with you! Danny will talk about the times when we were little and make things up for you, like I never feed him after school!"
"Hey Nellie, it's true!!" Danny shouted
"Shush!" Amanda said.
"Danny is smart and handsome and one of a kind. Danny will tell you like it is and make no excuses for anything. Make sure that you tell Danny 'I'm you're favorite sister' and 'you're pretty'"
"And don't you forget it Noelle! I'm the prettiest damn sister in this whole family!" Danny said in a high pitched voice. I couldn't help but laugh.
"Being the younger sister to 1 brother and the older sister to two brothers, I have never felt like that older. All 3 boys treat me like the little sister, they take care of me! They have always been there for me and they will be there for you! You are one lucky lady! Welcome to the Burke family! Get ready for a bumpy but fun ride!" Amanda finished, then pulling me in for a tight hug as everyone applauded.
As I grabbed some tissues that Layla got for me, I turned to my mom. Her eyes where welling up as she rubbed circles on my back.
"What do you think about this?"
"Amazing" Was all I could respond.
"So...who's going to read Jack's part since he's not here?" I heard someone say.
"Let Daisy do it!" Another said before Daisy got up to read Jacks part.
"Okay, just imagine me with a terrorist looking beard" Daisy laughed before she began with Jack's part.
"The Tao of Devon Burke. To Noelle: In the immortal words of the man that we al call Father, "This family is not a democracy it's a dictatorship and I am the dictator"" Daisy began, starting off with a joke. Typical Jack.
"My young darling sister, let me spin you a yarn about growing up as Devon Burke's kid. Please note that the man that you lived with and the man the rest of us lived with are 2 very different people. First you have to give a big thank you to the ones who came before you. Dad was not always the happy go lucky character you know today. The man you know comes from 4 older siblings molding and chipping away for a combined 131 years"
