partners for life

Being the oldest of four, this kind of scares the crap out of me. In my youthful, lets say "experimental" years, I was definitely not thinking of how my actions would effect my brother and two sisters. Quite frankly, I don't even think I was around that much when they were younger. Hmm..I wonder what effect that in itself had.

Oh, those days of late night parties, ditching school, boozing up, getting high and being an all around delinquent. What did they see? How much do they know? Did being a complete fuck up have an impact on their lives? I'm sorry but being a mentor at the time of birth seems like an awful lot of pressure.

"On the whole, siblings pass on dangerous habits to one another in a depressingly predictable way."

Well, great. Does that mean that I am ultimately responsible for the bad decisions of my sibs? I look at my baby sis and bro and think "predictable", maybe. i see them going through some of the same obstacles I went through. I wish I could protect them from that bullshit.

Man, I feel guilty.

But then there is my closest sister. Her and I shared a bedroom until the day I left the nest at the tender age of 17. I imagine she saw her share of my disaterous decisions but she turned out to be okay. She stands a beautiful, smart, athletic and determined woman with an always positive attitude. Perhaps that's the "i am soooo not gonna be like my sister" path.

What I find to be most true about all this is that siblings are with us for the whole journey. The only people that will be forever in your life as a friend. I like to think that I have come to be quite the fine young lady myself and that I have this "forever" to be a support for them. A loving guidance for the years and years we will share together as brother and sisters. My mistakes can be learned from as opposed to replicated. I'm gonna be a better sister from jhere on out. The best.

"Our spouses arrive comparatively late in our lives; our parents eventually leave us. Our siblings may be the only people we'll ever know who truly qualify as partners for life."

See now thats nice.

CNN Article

and here are their beautiful faces...