Meet the Parsells

True, he’s a champion athlete in all the big sports and he’s a master of all things physical from rock-climbing to target shooting. He gets top-notch grades, too, although he doesn’t excel at any specific subject like some of his younger brothers do. Plus, he’s a shining example of honesty and respect who’s not afraid to step up as a protector when necessary. Yes, Seph is admired and adored by almost everyone he meets, yet he doesn’t consider himself to be all that exceptional. 

He’s not especially gifted in any way. He chalks up all his achievements to self-discipline, hard work, and a service mindset. Whether he’s competing at basketball or kayaking for fun, he never tries to be the best, he only strives to do his best. As for his clean-cut reputation, that’s only because Seph never forgets that he’s got six younger siblings the look to him as an example to follow. 

Seph will never get a big head despite his many successes because he has one big (secret) weakness—he absolutely loathes the grotesque. Anything icky just makes Seph queasy. He’s not afraid of it, he just can’t stomach it—but he can steel himself to endure it when he has to. Just don’t tell his brothers…

Sometimes it seems like he can master a new creative craft in a matter of hours, but Thone would be the first to tell you that’s untrue. When asked how he does it, Thone simply says, “One must become immersed in a new medium before messing with it.” What he really means is that once a new creative outlet piques his interest, he pursues it with a passion. He reads, watches, listens, and studies absolutely everything he can find on his new interest so that he’s intimately acquainted with every aspect before he ever attempts to create anything himself. 

“I gotta know how all the masters made it work before I can try to create my own style, otherwise I’ll wind up being a bad copycat rather than an interesting original.” 

With a restless passion for all things beautiful smoldering underneath his cool mystique, females flock to Thone, but he’s not ready to devote himself to just one lady. Until he’s ready for a steady, Thone chooses to casual date the way they did in the 1950s. Besides, he doesn’t have an extended attention span for anything but the arts at this point in his life. 

(BTW, Easy wanted to give him a Fonzie-esque nickname, but Thone nixed it saying, “I’m obsessed with the arts, not the opposite sex. Besides, a true original doesn’t answer to a moniker inspired by a TV character.”)

Normally, Easy prefers to keep his socializing strategies secret to keep up his Parsell Pack leader mystique, but that’s mainly because there’s nothing very special about his methods. He just learned these three simple facts: 

1. People are attracted to joyful confidence. 

2. People love to talk about themselves. 

3. People love to be invited to exclusive events featuring inventive activities and entertainment. 

And contrary to popular belief, Easy wasn’t born with his impressive people skills. 

It all began when he realized that he wasn’t naturally inclined towards any particular interest, like his athletically, artistically, and academically talented brothers. At first he was jealous of their natural abilities, but then he discovered that they weren’t all that gifted—they were just single-minded in their interests to that practicing, creating, and studying was a joy, not a chore. Then he noticed that his brothers’ dedication to their passions left little time for them to make friends. 

Since he always had plenty of free time to play and a sunny, outgoing nature, he decided to expand his circle of companions to include kids that his brothers would enjoy spending time with. And the rest is friend-maker phenom history.

Thick history textbooks, dark noir novels, science and nature journals, leather-bound classic literature, even a light fantasy now and then. If it’s got words, Moth wants to read it. And all that reading has resulted in rather impressive academic achievements. 

While he never felt neglected or ignored, this sudden shift from having allowances made because he was the littlest to being a big brother himself came as bit of a culture shock. He knows full well that big brothers are supposed to be responsible role models—but Henny-Boy isn’t certain he can live up to the examples set by his own older siblings. 

This ongoing uncertainty has resulted in an identity crisis that has him questioning his own abilities, especially since his older brothers are so intimidatingly impressive in their own ways. That’s why he hasn’t yet told any of them about his own private passion for technology. 

From building computers to programming software, Henny-Boy has a knack for it all. 

At least, he thinks he does. 

But please, don’t tell his brothers yet. Not until he’s certain that he’s any good at it.

All of that one-on-one tutoring, and being a quick learner and quite intelligent too, has led Charley to be rather academically advanced for his age. But he’s no genius. He simply loves learning new things... all new things—because he always wants to know how things work. 

Well, he might just be a genius in that regard—figuring out how things work. Charley is absolutely fascinated with the mechanics of mechanisms, a fact the family found out when he disassembled the vacuum, a lamp, and the television set in a single afternoon when he was just three years old. Luckily, he was able to reassemble them too, with his father’s help. 

Just lately he’s been obsessed with constructing his own chain reaction contraptions, inspired by a comic strip depicting a Rube Goldberg machine. Now if anything goes missing around the house, the family knows to check if it’s become a gizmo in one of Charley’s ingenious inventions.

It isn’t easy raising seven kids on a soldier’s salary, so Ella learned to stretch a dollar with inventive cooking, making and mending her family’s clothes, raising as much food as she could at home, and repairing rather than replacing anything that broke down. By practicing Proverb parenting, learning by doing, and setting high expectations early, Ella (and Rove) raised their kids to be actively involved in keeping the home front functioning by the time they could walk and talk. 

As soon as Seph and Thone were responsible enough to care for their younger siblings, Ella eased the family’s financial strains by taking a series of part-time jobs wherever she could find one including restaurants, offices, retail stores, and once in a sugar beet factory! Unfortunately, the constant moving required by Rove’s military service often made it difficult for Ella to find and keep a job. 

Ella soon decided to invest in a career she could do anywhere, and began the difficult journey of establishing herself as an artist. Instead of putting all of her eggs in one basket (yes, this is one of the proverbs she raised her kids on!), she decided to give all of her creative passions a ago: baking birthday and wedding cakes, selling artwork in a variety of mediums (from paintings to pottery), booking singing gigs, designing websites, developing new toys, you name it! 

When advised to specialize in one or two things to find greater success, Ella always replies, “Why limit myself when I’m capable of so much more?” 

As far as Ella is concerned, she’s as successful as she needs to be to have the finances to keep her family comfortable without sacrificing too much quality time together. Ella’s secret to success? She’s quite gifted at marketing her many talents. (And she’s quite proud of how Easy is following in her footsteps—in his own way.)

Sure, on the surface he projects a rigid military discipline. And he holds his children to exacting standards that he rigorously enforces. And he’s unflinching in censuring and setting penalties whenever said kids step out of line. Yet no one would ever accuse him of being cruel. Or inflexible. 

On the many occasions when Rove must reprimand his children he follows a three-step protocol that always yields positive results. First, he listens. Second, he talks through the situation, taking his kids’ side into account. Third, he sets a penalty that focuses on instilling discipline and building character, rather than framing it as a demoralizing punishment. 

Rove is a man committed to leading by example, especially when comes to demonstrating kindness and generosity to his family and his community. And he’s relishing the opportunity to do so much more now that he’s a retired veteran. He now has the free time to indulge in his own personal passions, which include studying history, classical carpentry, historical preservation, reading most anything, and writing—if he’s able to hone his craft.