On Half-Siblings...

Before my parents met, my dad was married a couple times….and had children. All together, my dad has six kids (I, myself, am the sixth and only from my parents and therefore the only dark haired/dark eyed latina). There is a ten-year gap between myself and the next sister before me and an eighteen-year gap between myself and my oldest sister. All of my siblings (four sisters and one brother) have kids and they had them young. I will admit there are quite a few pros with having half-siblings that are so much older than me:

1. more presents for me on Christmas and Birthdays……except not so much on birthdays anymore since most don’t even call me anyway.

2. I have the joy of being the annoying little sister whenever possible (but it’s not all the time….which is grand because it’s a lot of work)

3. I do have some kind of companionship (especially with the sister before me).

4. I have a sister who I’ve decided to be my matron of honor

5. They already moved out as I got older so I didn’t have to share…..though I did get the hand-me-downs

6. Plenty of nieces and nephews

7. The fact that when people see us together, they’d never guess that we’re siblings (it's great to mess with people...it really confuses them)

However, the one major con I will say about having siblings so much older than me is that I am constantly at a different stage of life as the others. By the time I was in high school, all of my siblings were married (or some form of) and were having children. Let me reemphasize: I was in high school. By the time I was in college, all of my siblings were married (or some form of) and were having children. And some of their children were having children. Again let me reemphasize: some of their children were having children and I was only in college. Now that I am out of college with a degree, a job, my only children being my guinea pig and dog and no husband, I find that while I’m finally old enough to deemed an adult, my siblings are still at a different stage of life than I am.

My siblings are like e-mails that I get from my Peruvian relatives: with large powerpoint attachments. The kind of attachments that take forever to load and slows everything down to where you wait 20 minutes for a powerpoint presentation that you already got from your other aunt but you just want to be sure it’s different so you sit through it. Now I’m not calling my neices and nephews lame powerpoint attachments. But they are the attachments that burden the rest of the message. If you want the message, you have to go through the attachments. I could never have a time where I go out and have a drink with my sister (or brother) or do something that’s just the two of us (or maybe all six of us). That’s because they have children and are unable to do anything without them. I don’t blame them, they do what they want with their own lives.

But this is the major reason I try so hard to be there for my cousins and neices/nephews on my latin side. I’m closer with them because 1. I see them more often that I do my own siblings and 2. they’re more willing to follow me on my zany adventures (as long as it’s legal). I see these young kids more as siblings to me than my real ones. And while I’m not really close with my siblings, I guess this whole rant really goes towards the sister before me because she was one that really tried when we were younger and I definately appreciate it. That is why, whenever I get married, she will be my matron of honor. She doesn’t know it yet, and while I don’t have any expectations for her to do anything (bachlorette party or bridal shower because I’ll leave that to my friends), I’ll expect one hell of a speech from her.