Above you have the first and last time my hairtie and shirt were even slightly coordinated. I think it was for a birthday, which is probably why. You also have the first and last time my sister and I voluntarily posed for a picture because when our parents try and take pictures now it looks more like this:
The ongoing joke in my family is that I'm the neglected stepchild, because my sister has fifty baby books (literally) of her own baby pictures... there are so many pictures you could place them in order and make a stopmotion video of her entire toddler-hood. But by the time I came along, my parents had abandoned the whole "capture the moment" mantra and took maybe six pictures a year (and they were never nice pictures either; I'm literally crying in half of them).
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| Proof- I was not being sarcastic. |
And we joke about it now, but so much of my childhood was being jealous of every *cool big girl* thing my sister got to do: everything from having sleepovers and getting TV remote rights to being part of nerdy things like Science Olympiad and the Spelling Bee.
But in retrospect, she's been the one to give me her lunchbox when I forgot mine at home and teach me cursive and typing before the school district did. When I had nightmares as a toddler she would recite Roald Dahl stories from memory until I fell asleep. Even last week, when she was recruiting for a job, she spent until midnight fixing one of my Google Slides presentations.
So as much as I've resented being a younger sibling (sometimes), as much as I complain about having three overinvolved, helicopter parents, I know that half of whatever success I have is due to both of those things.
Anyway, that's enough sappiness for 2022. Time to put my mean face on.
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This blog post made me laugh - nicely done! I didn't know that Divya had loads more baby pics than you, though it makes sense as the firstborn - everyone's just over-the-moon for the firstborn, aren't they? I relate to this second child picture-taking negligence phenomenon. I too was jealous of my sister growing up for countless reasons - Shifa has always been much more social, outgoing, and independent than I was - though I've finally come to accept and embrace our differences. Kudos, Deepti!
ReplyDeleteVery cute narrative from the perspective of the younger sibling. That definitely sucks that the "capture every moment" died after the first sibling. They probably assumed the siblings would be the same since the younger one always copies the older ones things : ) Overall pleasant read about the thoughts of the younger sibling and definitely will keep it in mind next time I accuse my sister of copying my interests : D
ReplyDeleteAs the older sibling, it was so interesting to see what it’s like to be the younger sibling. I definitely think more pictures exist of me than of my sister. It was nice to read about how much you appreciate your sister (and your parents)—your guys’ relationship dynamic is both funny and heartwarming!
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