When Carl and I first met, he claimed one of the reasons he knew right away I was it for him is I told him I was going to UMaine for Elementary Education. He had transferred from electrical engineering to math education. He remembers thinking....ahhhh, I always wanted to marry another teacher so we could be on the same schedule and have a good family life together. As we began to get to know each other we both realized we shared a love for children. I was more inclined towards the younger ones, and he, the teenager population.
Carl spent a summer as a Bridge Counselor for Upward Bound right about after we had been dating a little over a year. He was an Upward Bound participant as a teenager and says the experience is what saved his life, got him out of Milo for the summers, he got to live at UMaine in Orono, and get some much needed academic opportunities. He wanted to be a Bridge counselor to give back, and earn money for an engagement ring he wanted to get for me. He loved that job, serving the youth for the summer. He met one of the first young men who ended up living with us for 3 years while he counselled there for the summer. We had a variety of kids who have lived with us when things did not work out with their parents, or in Aaron's case, was helping us out with the rent of a farmhouse at the time.
We spent every summer volunteering our time at a Youth Camp near Brooks, Maine, called Camp Wakonda. This camp is a place where I had grown up attending for the summer, and I could not wait to be a counselor there. I'll never forget my first cabin! It was such an awesome responsibility being with those girls. Carl was always well loved as he always knew how to be crazy and have a good time with these teenagers. We spent our vacation time there, and it was awesome.
Carl got a paid position at a church shortly after we were married working with the youth. He was also the Maine District Youth President for the church's denomination we were attending, so it was not uncommon for our farm house in Hermon to be teaming with kids. I also ran a preschool and day care out of our home in Hermon during this time period, which was very successful, called The Robbins Nest.
As our family grew, we added more to the Nest in the form of sleepover parties, birthday parties, Christmas parties, Easter egg hunts, big family dinners on Sundays, and for the different holiday. We hosted our wonderful friends from Alabama in the summertime when they would come to Maine for vacations. When we lived in Howland we would have the cross country team pasta parties at our house because we lived around the corner from the high school where Carl worked and coached. When we moved to Bangor, and the girls grew, we hosted team pasta parties yet again each season Kristen ran. Carl was and still is the coach at Cohen Middle School for cross country, in which those kids always knew at the end of the season Carl puts together a scavenger hunt for the team. He coaches cross country, math team, and the Academic Decathelon team.
In addition to all these kids in our house that we love, we also teach. So we each go to our respective schools and teach and love on a new batch of children each and every year. When you teach, you have the mentality that these are your kids. You are gifted with these people each and every day that their parents allow them to come to school.
We have always loved other people's kids. Its what we do. It's how we have not only served and volunteered our lives, but its our paid way of life. Other People's Children.
So its really not so strange that when we have kids in our home we love them deeply, and miss them completely, when they are gone. Especially our own family of kids. These kids we have taken every where with us from the beach, to vacations, to church, to Sunday dinners, and every holiday in between.
To the common person who goes about their days and careers and jobs investing in their own lives, and maybe their own kids, and have an occasional few in their homes, we may seem a little over the top. But, its what we have always done as a couple. Kids after kids after kids after kids, have come through our home in the almost 28 years of marriage. We have always loved other people's kids and made them our own. And there's nothing like when one of them leaves. Its horrible. Its hard. I've been crying today thinking of my daughter departing. They come home, then they leave, or they move out, then they come back, then they leave. I love all these kids so much. I'm hard wired to care, and so is my husband. This love thing is us.
We are like that shepherd that counts the 99 sheep and notices the one that is missing and we go searching or praying. We know our sheep. We love our sheep. We've shepherded quite a few over the years. We love when some of the sheep stop by. We love all the Howland kids who have had weddings and have invited us to them...what an honor. Carl and I love that. The girls used to call one of Carl's students, The Giant, that was Teddy K. because he was so tall. Teddy came by one day shortly after he got his first real job in his BMW and took Carl for a ride and said "I have this because you knew I needed calculus. You believed in us, up here in Howland, Maine." We both were touched by that. I have one guy named Darren who would show up all the time to hang out, he just needed someone to play video games with him and talk. Love that guy.
Its us. We love to love on people. Our doors have always been open. That's not a new thing. We have always had big hearts. That's how we roll. My one thought on all this is I hope that all these seeds we have planted will grow. I water them daily with prayer, and hug the ones I can see. I cuddle the one I still have left in the nest, and will love whomever he brings in. Because that IS what we do in The Robbins Nest.
WE LOVE.
WE LOVE WELL.
Our family loves well.
WE WELCOME.
Its what we have always done.
Its what we have taught our offspring, they know everyone and anyone is welcome in the Nest, even on a moment's notice.
Its how we've loved those who have been added.
ITS US.
And I gotta say, I'm totally proud of us.
I'm totally proud of the way we continue to Love.
Always know YOU Are Welcome.
Much love from our Nest to Yours,
Julie Erb Robbins
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