I always wanted a sister. Younger, older, it didn’t matter. I still wish I had one, at times. I know it’s like any sibling relationship — potentially fraught with competition and petty annoyances. But still, I think it would be awfully nice to have that close bond with someone who could be your best friend and is also a blood relative. Growing up, I knew families of three girls. Just peeking in, it looked like a nice place to be.
When I found out my first child was going to be a girl, I was thrilled and then when I found out about the second one’s gender, I felt truly complete. I would have two little girls who would hopefully, someday be friends and be there for one another. My daughters are 4.5 years apart which is a pretty big age diffference. We didn’t plan it that way. it’s just kind of the way it happened. When the younger one was born, the older one was in preschool and pretty much had her own little life and schedule. The new addition to our family hardly seemed to phase her. We thought we had done such a good job transitioning our older one and congratulated ourselves on how accepting she was of her little sister.
Well, it took about 3 years for it to settle in that the little one wasn’t going anywhere. Today, they fight constantly about pretty much everything. Things I thought I would only read about in books or see on TV are now happening in my home. They nudge each other, tease each other, tattle on each other — pretty much the gamut.
But somehow, I don’t worry about what their relationship will be like in 20 years. Beneath all of the bickering there does seem to be some form of caring. I’ve seen concern from one when the other is hurt, and they do tend to miss one another when they are apart. I can only hope that someday they will love one another and maybe, just maybe, like each other.
