In one moment your life can gain an untold amount of meaning, just with the introduction of another, significant, person. In one instance my life went from having no responsibilities as a fourteen year old kid, to having someone to look after and guide; I gained something in myself simply by gaining a sibling, I was officially an older brother.
Now, not to lead you astray, I have two sisters: one four years younger than myself, and another who is fourteen years younger than myself but my overwhelming emotion of responsibility and loyalty was not the same as my middle sister. My middle sister and I were the typical brother and sister who fought regularly. Almost at birth with my middle sister I had a vicious desire to just piss each other off; It almost felt like times of war in the house hold, always having to look over my shoulder as to whether or not my sister would pull a prank on me or not. Now, my unconditional love for my entire family was still there but I never had the urge to please my sister, her happiness was never of my concern. But as I was waiting outside of my mothers hospital room, anxiously anticipating this tiny child, I gained a purpose. My mind flooded with different emotions, within seconds I knew that I would strive to be the best older brother from this point forward. Clarity was blessed on my mind and I knew I was doing the whole "brother" thing all wrong. As I was motioned to enter the room, a room to which I left with one less being, my flooded mind surged with joy and excitement. Every ounce of confusion and nervousness was banished just at the sight of this innocent face, and I knew I loved her from the first second I saw her.
I am in that same boat now because I am the oldest of all my siblings. I have a sister that is right behind me, she is seventeen, I have a little brother who is seven and another little sister who is four. It was always just me and my little, big sister for awhle and we always fought as well but there were some good times, too. I agree on how there weren't really heavy responsibilities because we were so close in age. When we found out my mom was pregnant, we were so in shocked because it had always just been us two, for a very long time. Then she told us it was a boy and we were very excited because it was just us only two girls. For awhile me and my sister were a tad bit jealous when my mom first told us because we knew that all the attention would drift away from us and that we would have more responsibilities. When my baby brother came into this world, my sister and I were so happy and we wanted to hold him all the time. So then when my other little sister came into this world, we didn't act the same as we did when we knew my brother was coming because we already knew what to expect. We did have way more responsibilties when she came though but we were mostly excited to have another sibling and especially my sister because she would be able to be a big sister now, too.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly how you feel. I have a sister who is 5 years younger, and I don't think I would be as responsible as I am today if my parents never had her. I always wanted a younger brother so we could do guy things together and play video games together, but instead I got a sister. Surprisingly I was very excited I had a sister. I wasn't bummed at all that I didn't get my little brother. Just like every other older sibling, I was jealous at one point because she got all the attention, but that jealousy soon faded as I began to love having her as a sister. I remember the day she was born just like you. From that day we became best friends, and she looked up to me like we all do to our older siblings. Whenever we would have some spare time we would either watch T.V., play sports, pull pranks on our parents, and most of the time fight like all brothers and sisters do. Now that she is 13 she relies on me to drive her to her friends house, take her to the movies and give her advice on whatever she needs. She knows that I have gone through everything she's going through right now, so she always asks me what to expect. Although she can be annoying sometimes, I know that I have to be there for her as it is my responsibility to be a good big brother.
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