Today is National Sibling Day!
My parents only blessed me with one sibling and she is six years younger than I am. I’ve been told I was such a terrible baby that it took that long for my mom to convince my dad to have another baby. The day she entered the world is a day that I vividly remember. I remember telling my dad to take her back because I wanted a brother. I also remember that she ruined my first day of first grade but I never held it against her.
We’ve spent much of our lives in different stages. I was a teen she was a kid, I was married, she was wild and single….you get the picture. Despite those different stages and not always seeing eye to eye, we’ve both always known that we were there for each other. If I needed anything all I had to do was ask and vise versa.
One thing we both learned by watching our parents was to not let those differences in stages and personalities affect our relationship long term. Sadly, our dad and his siblings did not have great relationships and I always promised myself that my relationship with my sister would never be like that. It’s not always easy and we both say and do things that ruffle each other’s feathers BUT that will not change our love for each other nor will it cause us to break ties with each other. Life is life and we are both busy living our lives but we always know we can count on each other when life gives us lemons. Learning to be a good sibling is a continuous process and it changes as we get older and add spouses, children, and grandchildren to the mix. While those people are important they can never replace the relationship you have with your sibling(s). It takes time and effort to maintain that relationship but it is worth it. Your sibling can be one of your best friends!
I know that not everyone has a great relationship with their sibling. I’ve seen it first hand. Sometimes it’s because of the way they were raised and sometimes the differences and/or similarities are just more than one can handle and that’s ok! However, if there is any hope at all, I highly encourage trying.