All Around the House with the Osmonds!
Hi! You know which question I get asked the most about my brothers? Everyone always wants to know, “What’s it like living with Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, and Donny?” I’ve always had a one-word answer–great!
But since I have this column to explain things better, I want to describe just how great it is to have those tremendous guys you know as the Osmonds as my brothers! It feels a little strange writing down on paper the daily activities around our home! But if my descriptions bring you closer to us, then I’m very happy to do it!
FIRST SOUNDS
The first sounds in the morning usually come from the kitchen! And if there are noises coming from the kitchen really early in the morning you can almost bet that the person making all the racket is either Jay or Wayne! Both guys are the early birds in the family. . .They can get up early no matter what time they got to bed the night before! Jay and Wayne also share another common trait–they also eat the most! Neither guy can get going unless they’ve had a meal. But once they’ve eaten. . .Watch out! They suddenly become Mr. Energetics!
The next call out of bed is usually Alan. Alan doesn’t need any breakfast to help him wake up. He just gets up and once his eyes are open, he’s completely wide-awake! Allen is our businessman. He likes to dive right into work as soon as possible. You can always find Alan deeply involved with important looking papers and sitting at the big desk in the den!
Merrill and Donny are the late sleepers in the group! I’ve never seen anybody enjoy sleeping as much as those two! Even on tours or short trips, the first one to drift off to dreamland is either Merrill or Donny! Donny has this habit of rubbing his eyes with his fist clenched until he’s really awake! We often tease him about someday rubbing his eyes out because he sleeps so much!
LOTS OF ENERGY
After everyone has had breakfast, there’s usually a million things going on! Either there’s music playing from the stereo, or a TV program blaring from the den, or guitar practicing from one of the bedrooms, or a baseball game ringing out from the backyard! Sometimes all of those activities are going on at once. . .and more! After all, there’s lots of Osmonds around during the morning hours around our house there’s lots of energy too!
Before any kind of amusement begins, everyone does their fair share of cleaning up the house! Everyone fixes their own beds and tidies up their bedrooms! No one expects somebody to pick up after them. . .not even little Jimmy! Jimmy is so good about trying to get all the wrinkles out of his bed and putting all of his toys back in the toy box when he’s through playing with them!
After every single meal, everyone clears his own plates from the table. It’s just an automatic thing with us to take our plate to the kitchen, rinse it off, and stack it on the counter next to the sink. Mom and daddy taught us ever since we were all big enough to reach the kitchen faucets that cleaning up after ourselves would be a big help to the whole family. . .and all of us remember that!
REHEARSALS ARE FUN
If the morning seems hectic around our house, you should see what goes on in the afternoon and the evenings! The boys usually have rehearsals in our own studio in what used to be the garage at home. I like it when they set up their equipment in the rehearsal room and practice. I still get filled with tremendous pride every time I hear them singing together or watch them dancing together!
Other afternoons, there’s a constant line of people filing in and out of the house helping the boys plan the next tours. There’s an awful lot of hard work and careful planning for each tour, and the boys want to be in on every single detail. I admire all of them for their business sense–I know I get lost when they start talking about schedules and stuff!
The most fun times are the evenings when there is nothing planned in the whole family seems to be drawn to the den! Pretty soon one of the boys start strumming on a guitar and then the others pick up their instruments and join in! When my family has their unrehearsed jams, we share a warm, peaceful, secure feeling! Daddy and mom join in too!
My space is running out and haven’t described half of the things I wanted to tell you about! Tell you what, meet me here next month and I’ll tell you some more secrets about what living with the Osmonds is like, OK? Until next month, much happiness to you!
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