Formed Out Of Tragedy, Hopkins Family Of Ten Bonds Over Sports
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - You've got your Mannings. Your Harbaughs. Your Molinas, Gasols, and Earnhardts.
Some families are sports super-families.
And there is one such family in Hopkins, a family that is thriving, even if it was formed under the most unfortunate of circumstances.
It's a typical night at the Swenson house.
A typical night for a NASCAR pit crew.
"It's constant activity around here," Vicki Swenson said. "It's a mad scramble to get the little kids with their homework."
Nobody knows hectic like a family of ten. Well, nine with the oldest off to college.
As if their load feels any lighter.
"There's so many," Erik Swenson said, "we've often joked that friends could drop their kids off here and we wouldn't know."
In a way, maybe Vicki and Erik Swenson are cut out for this. Or, at least, used to this--managing a busload of children.
Vicki's the head coach of the Hopkins volleyball team. Erik's an assistant on the football team.
"Fall is nuts," Erik said. "Because we're both coaching."
And the kids are all playing. Family dinners? They're more of a running joke than an actual occurrence.
"We're not going to sit down and have all nine of us here sitting around the table and carving our roast beef," Erik said with a laugh.
Come to think of it, maybe this isn't a typical night at the Swenson house after all. On a typical night, nobody would be here.
Samantha's the star of the volleyball team--one of the top eight recruits in the entire country. She'll be a Gopher next year.
Tyler's the quarterback of the football team, and looking at colleges, too.
There's Trevor, on Varsity as a sophomore, Tara, on Varsity as a freshman, and 8-year-old twins Stella and Olivia, budding stars in their mom's favorite sport, with 6-year-old Eva soon to join them.
The one they sent off to college? Taylor's on the dean's list at Marquette.
"We have our moments, but they're really good kids," Vicki said. "For how our lives came to be, this could be a million times worse."
Because this rare family night with them all together is only happening because of what happened on another night.
The night of Sept. 22, 2006, Vicki's sister, Teri Lee, was murdered by a jealous ex-boyfriend.
"We were supposed to grow old together and take care of my parents together," Vicki said. "And I got robbed."
Teri's husband, Ty, had died years earlier in a car accident, leaving her four children--Taylor, Tyler, Trevor and Tara--behind. But far from alone.
"There was just never any question that the kids would be with us," Vicki said.
Erik and Vicki adopted them, turning their family of five into a family of nine, overnight. A year later, it was ten. They moved into a house provided by the show "Extreme Makeover," to accommodate their suddenly expanded needs.
"We worked really hard, right from day one, to really establish that we are a family of ten," Vicki said.
A process that makes the busy nights like tonight seem easy.
"It definitely now feels normal," said Vicki, who helped author two new laws to protect victims of domestic violence. "And I say that, and that doesn't come without guilt. I told Tara the other day how much I just love being her mom. I do. I just, I love her. And I can't imagine my life without her, and I can't imagine not being her mom.
"Because they're amazing. They are amazing kids. And so I feel bad that she isn't here to see that and to see them."
Tara said the closeness of their family has helped.
"To have seven other siblings just around your back and stuff, and two loving parents who were always right there to help you in things," she said, "they're definitely the main reason why we're all doing well."
Sports, despite the crazy schedule that comes with it, has been another.
"Sports hasn't saved our kids, but I think it has definitely been a real boon to them in their development," Erik said. "Being welcomed in with open arms to these various teams was a real tonic for them."
On most nights, it pulls them in ten different directions.
But as each other's coaches and each other's teammates, "I just think that brings us together," Samantha said. "We all share that one thing that we all love."
It's a bond that became even more important when the family was faced with its latest challenge. In June, Vicki was diagnosed with cancer.
"Just a thyroid cancer," she said, pointing to her neck.
But they'll face it like they've faced everything else. Together.
"It'll be okay," Vicki said. "It'll be okay."
Vicki says her cancer treatment has gone well, and she knows it hasn't spread to other parts of her body. She has another scan scheduled in December, at which time she's hopeful her doctor will declare her "cancer-free."
But she does have a scar on her neck where her thyroid was removed, another reminder that when things are taken away, scars remain.
And that some take longer than others to heal.
"The eight-year anniversary of her death was Monday, Sept. 22," Vicki said. "And I don't have the luxury of just hiding under my covers all day. But that's a really hard day."
Hard days that turn into busy nights. But wherever each night takes them, they'll always pull together.
"There is just so much joy," Vicki said, "in having her kids."
