In honor of National Sibling’s Day (which we celebrate in April), I want to tell you about my family.
I always hoped my oldest child would be a boy because I have two brothers I absolutely adore.
I love my brothers equally, but my oldest brother was quieter and usually by himself, so we weren’t as close. It was my goal as his little sister to make him smile or laugh every time he made an appearance. On occasion, I succeeded and felt like the best sister in the world. He was also protective of me and I knew he loved me even though we didn’t have as much interaction.
My other brother, Ryan, is four years older than me and was always my role model.
He was more outgoing and we spent a lot of time together. He frequently had to babysit me when I was young. I got to follow him and his friends everywhere, which I’m sure he absolutely loved.
One of my oldest memories of Ryan is from when he was babysitting me. We weren’t allowed to watch MTV, but he was anyway. Being the rule-follower that I am, I stood in front of the tv. Being the rebellious teen that he was, he “beat me up.” When my parents got home they grounded him for hurting me. I cried because I felt bad that he was in trouble and was going to miss his friend’s birthday party.
Of course, his version of that story is a little different than mine. We’re going to stick with mine because it’s obviously the most accurate.
When he got older he was in a band and I thought they were the coolest people in the world. He showered approximately 82 times a day and ironed all his clothes (this might be a slight exaggeration), while I would throw on whichever hoodie was clean. I don’t know how I didn’t end up being cooler after hanging around him so much – somehow I became even more socially awkward instead.
I have lots of memories from childhood, but our best times were as young adults.
My brother moved back home for a while when I was about 18. We would stay up talking about anything and everything until early in the morning and became really good friends. It didn’t hurt that he ended up dating and marrying my best friend, so we spent tons of time together.
Even now, although he’s lost a bit of the hero status as I’ve learned that he isn’t in fact perfect, he’s still pretty awesome.
When my husband and I moved across town, Ryan came and stayed until after midnight helping me pack and get moved. However, he did threaten to throw away my five boxes of “Marla’s Memories,” which wasn’t kind. I’m the only sentimental child in the family, so he gave me a lot of crap about how my saved memories.
I had a really good relationship with my brothers and have always admired them. However, even though I always thought I wanted a boy first, God chose to give me three girls instead.
I thought that would make me sad, but I am incredibly thankful now. Their relationships aren’t the same as my relationship with my brothers, but they have their own unique, wonderful relationships. They are already very close to each other, even in their young years. They love to hug, make up dances, and tell each other how much they love each other. There may be more tension as they become teens, maybe even more than I had with my brothers, but I’m excited to see how their relationships grow and change.
I hope that even though their relationships with their siblings will look different than mine do, that they will always admire and love one another the way that I love and admire my siblings. I hope there will be times they can be each other’s heroes like my brothers are to me. I’m excited to see their relationships thrive both in ways that are similar and different from what I have experienced.
In honor of National Siblings Day, what are your favorite memories with your siblings? What is your favorite part of watching your kids grow up together as siblings?
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