Joe and Frank Anderson, Sons of Norene

While I can always talk about life getting busy and why I've taken so long to post this blog, I can also honestly say that I think that I've needed to sit with it a little longer and just enjoy how much I learned about Joe and Frank and their late mother, Norene. Yesterday was Palm Sunday and I talked to Norene while I prayed over Joe and Frank and all of their families after mass. I happened to look up and saw two brothers staring up at the stained glass and discussing the saint. The two reached out separately, but almost at the same time to touch the cross that is painted onto the stone wall and then, just like that, their faces of fascination and rapture changed as one whacked the other with the long palms just handed out. This, of course, caused the other brother to take his palm and brandish it like a sword and before you knew it, we had a palm battle starting right in the side aisle of St. Joseph's Cathedral.

I about laughed out loud, but caught myself but kept the smile on my face as I watched their mother shush them and come over to put an end to the battle. She happened to look up to see who her sons were bothering and saw me smiling at her. She, too, broke out in a smile and with a little shake of the head we two mothers exchanged the universal understanding of the boy mom nod.

It was at that moment that I just knew Norene was in heaven getting a total hoot out of these two boys and so happy knowing that brothers were being brothers--showcasing in a matter of seconds the incredble continuum of thoughts, emotions, and actions that can take place in boys. As I often say to Mother Mary, I said to Norene, "how did you do it??".

Norene somehow managed to get the entire family to church each week.

In talking with her identical twins Joe and Frank, you quickly learn that the pair of them was nothing when thrown into the mix of being babies #5 and #6 respectively in a family that grew to 10 children (7 boys and 3 girls). Joe and Frank remember their mother with such warmth and their close relationship is reflected in the pictures that we see here of the entire family. Joe and Frank were quick to give their mother the credit in raising them to go to church each week and I can only imagine that Norene was undoubtedly as much of a pro at coloring and hiding Easter eggs as she was in making her bunny cakes.

Norene made bunny cakes each year for Easter.

As soon as we started talking holidays, Joe and Frank quickly moved to Halloween--Norene's favorite holiday. Evidently, it was nothing for Norene to whip up 10 costumes and have a different one for each child (but it was the 70s and somehow, everyone (ok, maybe just women) knew how to sew and did it regularly (a total lost art). She was able to adjust the creativity to fit each child and Joe and Frank really credit their mother with giving them the support to be who they are and own it. Norene was not only an ultra-mom, but she also wrote for the Medina County Gazette paper every Tuesday before going back to school to become a nurse. (She went back to school with children AND battled breast cancer while going to school).

Every kid got their own costume to match their personality and trends that year. Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson was a favorite Halloween costume year.

Being the only set of twins in a family of 10, Norene made sure that Joe and Frank had their time in the spotlight. She did this by bringing them Twinsburg, Ohio to Twins Day Festival and providing them homemade T-Shirts and Cabbage Patch dolls. You can see how special this was given that the boys still have the photos and dolls!

Norene made Joe and Frank T-Shirts for the Twin Day Festival where the boys competed in talent shows. They later appeared in a play alongside their mother later in life. Norene also went to clown school and loved to laugh.

Joe and Frank spent time reflecting about how their mother taught them what to do in terms of loving and caring for children. They credit their mother with giving them the support they need to explore their talents, be brave men, and not be ashamed about it. She was a model of constantly changing and believed in "you are never too old to go after your passion".

All of the babies together!

Norene was an incredible example of joy and lived out loud. You can see the joy on all of her children's faces. When she passed away from a brain tumor at 64, her children were left full of memories and close-knit relationships that keep that reuniting at least once a year. Joe and Frank both went on to have fulfulling careers tied to the field of cancer treatment and therapy and think about their mother on a daily basis. These two men followed in their mothers' footsteps by following their own music passions, laughing continuously, and never complaining because they realize that they have been given--and then further developed--exceptional lives full of meaning.

Norene is flanked by her twins, Joey and Frankie.

In a week of joy as we celebrate Easter, let's all take a moment to celebrate and appreciate each person's ability to be born again--to be ever-evolving and ever-growing through love.

You can watch Joe & Frank Anderson on the Boy Mom Podcast on YouTube, or listen/watch on Spotify, iHeart Radio, Apple Podcasts.