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Siblings|Pad Patter 4.10

So many stories with such variety! I feel the pain for some of you, and laughed too at a few antics.
This sibs question is loaded for me. I was born third girl of four. Middle child, I guess. :)
Didn't really know my oldest sister til I was in my teens. Next to oldest we fought all the time. ha. Younger sis lacking memories cos we are 5 years apart. Actually- oldest is 8 years older than me,
then #2 is 5 years older than me,
and youngest- as said- 5 years younger.
So... it's been hard to be "close".
Top that off with my parents accepting the call to be houseparents at a Christian children's home when I was 11. My oldest sister married and left home. My other two sisters and I immediately became members of a household of 16! I have good memories mostly of those years. We had many skits and plays, very interesting vacations, lots of travel to "represent" the Children's home to organizations and churches, and Christmas was amazing!!!! Not too much contact with those foster sibs now- only with one of them.
NOW I am closest to my youngest sister though she is 1,000 miles away.That has taken 30+ years before the relationship grew. Then the next oldest- whose life has been VERY difficult and filled with heartache, and lastly the oldest. << She is just too set in her ways. We are polar opposites. She still attends the church she grew up in in the same city and lives in the house she bought after her wedding. Me, I have moved, moved, moved- well, between Army and ministry, we are "holy nomads", LOL!!!
 
@bestcee my brother was just a little brat (I mean kid) when my sister and I were in high school. He was a devil child back them. He used to do really obnoxious things when we had friends (especially boyfriends) over. He's pretty cool now and we laugh about the things he used to do. It wasn't very funny back then.
 
My sister & I are only 19 months apart (I'm older.) We are still super close- although we moved about 5 hours away almost 7 years ago & it's been tough to stay connected. Thank goodness for technology & snapchat! :compcoffee

Both my parents remarried, then each had a son- so I have 2 little half brothers. One is 25 & the other is 14!!! My 25 yr old brother I talk to on occasion, but mostly see him at holidays or when I'm in town visiting. My other little brother is the result of my dad & wicked-witch of the west, So..... I see him often & try to put my issues with his mom aside- mostly so that my kids know him & my dad and have good memories of them. He is starting to use a smartphone- so we chat on instagram & I am pretty sure he has figured out what a crazy his mom is. :crazy3 Regardless, I hope to have a decent relationship with him- even tho I was 23 when he was born and my kids are closer to his age than I am!

My hubby is an only child- which is nice in many ways- but sometimes I think he needed a sibling growing up so he doesn't pick on me all the time! :giggle
 
amien1 said:
even tho I was 23 when he was born and my kids are closer to his age than I am!
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We have a lot of this in my family. The youngest 3 (17, 14, 5) are more like cousins to my son (8) and brothers kids (13, 12,8,5) than uncles or my brothers. Even my other brother - 20 - is more like a child to me because I was 17 when he was born.
 
Cherylndesigns said:
my brother was just a little brat (I mean kid) when my sister and I were in high school.
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Love it! My husband actually taught 4 of my siblings how to drive! Of course, when we were dating, they would sit between us, or want to play a game with us, or bring him his jacket and shoes and tell him "Bye, it's time to go". Obnoxious devil children! I'm glad you get along now!
 
I only have one sibling, a sister and she is just 16 months older than me. We have always been very close. When I was in kindergarten and was asked who my best friend was, I said my sister. :) We are still close now and take most of our camping trips and vacations together. I actually knew her husband at college before she did, and happily my hubby and her hubby really get along well too, so it's really fun to get together with them. We got married the same year and had our boys (2 each) really close together too. I had boy, she had a boy, I had a boy, she had a boy. :giggle The boys (cousins) are all SUPER close too, so we are really lucky all around.
 
amien1 said:
My sister & I are only 19 months apart (I'm older.) We are still super close- although we moved about 5 hours away almost 7 years ago & it's been tough to stay connected. Thank goodness for technology & snapchat! :compcoffee

Both my parents remarried, then each had a son- so I have 2 little half brothers. One is 25 & the other is 14!!! My 25 yr old brother I talk to on occasion, but mostly see him at holidays or when I'm in town visiting. My other little brother is the result of my dad & wicked-witch of the west, So..... I see him often & try to put my issues with his mom aside- mostly so that my kids know him & my dad and have good memories of them. He is starting to use a smartphone- so we chat on instagram & I am pretty sure he has figured out what a crazy his mom is. :crazy3 Regardless, I hope to have a decent relationship with him- even tho I was 23 when he was born and my kids are closer to his age than I am!

My hubby is an only child- which is nice in many ways- but sometimes I think he needed a sibling growing up so he doesn't pick on me all the time! :giggle
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My youngest brother and my daughter are only 18 months apart. My niece and my brother are only 8 months apart. In fact, for a short time my SIL and mom were pregnant at the same time. My brother and kids are super close. He and my daughter go to the same 7-12 school so I take him to school every morning.
 
I am lucky enough to have 2 older brothers... and as the youngest and the only girl, I was probably the most spoiled! My oldest brother is 4 years older than me, and then my other bro is 2 years older. We had SO MUCH FUN growing up together. Of course there were fights and arguments, but I think back very fondly of my childhood. As we got a bit older, the oldest one and I weren't quite as close, as he moved out as I was just entering High School - then immediately got married and had babies. My other bro and I were quite close. We shared the same friends, and hung out in high school a lot. We even shared an apartment when I got out of high school.

As adults, we know we can count on each other. Do we see each other a lot? No. But, when we are together, man do we have fun! My closest brother and his family just moved 9 hours away, so that's been an adjustment, but we've managed! I've always been blessed to have them in my corner. I love them!
 
I have a younger sister. We didn't get along for a very long time, and in the last couple of years, after me moving back to our hometown and her going through a terrible personal crisis, we've gotten much closer. I wouldn't say we're besties but I would say we're friends and that feels good to say.

My actual bestie is my cousin, and she and I always tease each other about how we *should* be sisters since we're so alike and our sisters (who are not related to each other) should be sisters with one another since they're so alike.

There are a lot of things I doubt abt my parenting skills but one thing I am proud of is that my two children are very close with one another despite their 4 1/2 year age difference. There are lots of things I've done and said to make that so, and I will do everything in my power to continue to strengthen that relationship and stress the importance of it in the years to come.
 
Just me! no siblings and dh is 10 years younger than his sister so he is also like an only child. It works for us as we're both pretty independent.
 
I have a younger brother. Growing up we had typical sibling fights (she touched me/he's touching my stuff). We're still close now. In fact, his family just joined us in Disneyland a couple weeks ago.
I also consider my brother and sisters-in law to be "my" siblings too. We're all pretty close, though I have a better relationship with SIL that's married to my brother. Maybe it has to do with our kids? My DD is 6 months older than my nephew! And they are best buddies too!
 
I have 3 siblings. My brother and I are the oldest (twins). 2 sisters just 2 and 4 years younger than me. We all live in the same town and get together fairly frequently. I wouldn't say we are super close, but we have a good time when we get together. Normal kid stuff growing up, but I do think we got along better than most.
 
I have two younger brothers. They are much closer (relationship wise and in location) to each other - they both work for the same company, have even lived together in the past, and currently are located maybe 45 minutes away from each other. So they see each other often and are pretty tight. I get along great with them though and value our face to face time I do get with them. All in all we all get along just fine. I am thankful for that. I'm about 5 hours away from them though, so I don't get to see them enough!

Wow, some of you have huge families. I've always been a little envious of that lifestyle! But my husband comes from a family of 7 children. Sometimes managing all those personalities is tricky. They do quite well though I have to say! It's inspiring.
 
jenn mccabe said:
Wow, some of you have huge families. I've always been a little envious of that lifestyle! But my husband comes from a family of 7 children. Sometimes managing all those personalities is tricky. They do quite well though I have to say! It's inspiring.
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LOL! My husband and I have been together almost 20 years now and he still gets overwhelmed whenever my family is all together. He comes from a super small family that are not close at all. He gets even more overwhelmed when all of my extended family is around. It can be loud and chaotic. Haha!
 
carrie1977 said:
LOL! My husband and I have been together almost 20 years now and he still gets overwhelmed whenever my family is all together. He comes from a super small family that are not close at all. He gets even more overwhelmed when all of my extended family is around. It can be loud and chaotic. Haha!
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Totally this! He's known my family for 22 years, and it is still overwhelming sometimes. Heck, it can be overwhelming to me especially with the kids in the mix!
 
bestcee said:
Totally this! He's known my family for 22 years, and it is still overwhelming sometimes. Heck, it can be overwhelming to me especially with the kids in the mix!
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Absolutely! I have a couple of cousins that have kids that are screamers and when their kids are together....oy! I usually go outside when they are all around. lol
 
Only child.

However, I have 7 cousins that I was very close to growing up and they treated me like another sister.

The 3 that I am closest to were the children of my mother's sister. They lived 90 minutes away from us but we saw each other often. The 2 oldest kids were 4 and 1 year older than me. The youngest is 9 years younger (an oopsie!). I went to many high school and college football games for the oldest and the youngest. When I was in college we had a siblings weekend... I had the youngest come stay with me. He loved it!

The other 4 were the children of one of dad's brothers. Dad and this brother were only 15 months apart in age and were more like twins themselves (they were from a family of 17 children... 2 died before they were born). This family lived right here in town and we spent a lot of time with them. After mom died and Dad moved to NC, this family always included me in their Christmas gatherings which were always held on a different day. For many years, they had Christmas on Thanksgiving because the parents headed to FL for the month of December. Several years, it was on NYE. It all depended on when they could get together because of grandkid activities as they grew older.

My parents had to make the tough decision of what would happen to me if something happened to both of them when I was a child. They knew it would be one of these 2 families and the choice was agonizing for them. In the end, it didn't matter but their choice was the family of 3 children even though it meant I would have to move to another town. The deciding factor was religion. Dad's brother had married a Catholic girl and chose to become Catholic. Dad married a girl raised in the Methodist church and he chose that religion. Mom's sister was also raising her children in the Methodist church.

To this day, I still consider these 7 my "siblings" although I am closer to the oldest 2 from the family of 3. I think it all goes back to the 2 weeks the 3 of us would stay with our grandparents a couple of times in the summer.
 
I'm the baby of the family, I have a brother who is 8 years older than I am, he lives 1300+ miles away & I hardly ever see or talk with him. Funny, growing up, he & I were quite close. I have another brother who is 5 years older, and he lives 100 miles away. I saw him at Easter. We get together a few times a year, New Year being one of them as he is visiting with our brother for Christmas. I'm much closer to my younger brother now, but growing up, he was the one who wasn't very nice to me...
 
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