Siblings

Having a sibling was something that, I must truthfully say, I never took for granted. I prayed for years, every day, hoping to get a life-long playmate. When it came however, 7 years after me, I forgot the enormity of the gift I was given. I began to feel jealous, inferior, lesser-loved - standard older sibling behavior. Mind you, I remembered, in the dead of night, and in my fitful dreams, the love and respect that my little brother had for me; but these seemed to vanish with the breaking of dawn, leaving me to think of more 'important', worldly, things.
I'm no 'Sister-zella', I just exaggerate a bit, but this was something that kept cropping up in my mind.

Until, that is, I met someone who didn't have a sibling. She used to sleep in her parent's bedroom because she had never wanted a sibling, she said. That made me wonder about all those people out there, who were unaware of what they were missing out on. They had never known the joy of cuddling up to watch a ridiculous movie with their bleary-eyed little twerps at 3 in the morning; never fought over who got to sleep on the upper bunk at night; never shared the last drop of milkshake, or the last bite of chocolate; never been able to put off reading the climax of their novel to play 'house' or 'war' or 'school' or 'alien invasion' or whatever else it is that runs through that crazy little mind; never been able to receive the vast amount of endless, unfathomable respect that comes so naturally to a sibling.

I don't mean to doom single children to the pits of depravity, however. There are just-as-good substitutes - a very close cousin with whom you share all your secrets; a friend who respects and understands you like no other; or your true love who accepts you for who and what you are. And sometimes, even people who have other brothers or sisters, may still feel as though a friend or a cousin is as close to them as their own siblings.

This profound and unique bond of 'sibling-hood', where you're finishing each other's sentences and thinking up the same tricks to pull on each other,does not seem to exist anywhere or in anything else.

For the gift of my sibling, I am, finally, completely grateful.

I dedicate this song, from Phineas and Ferb, to all the siblings, cousins,friends and little brothers out there :