“You’re so lucky!”

Am I, though?

Ever since I can remember I’ve always wanted a sibling. I wanted to have a special bond with someone who shares my DNA. However, when I was 6 years old, my mom got sick and made any possibility of me having a younger sibling hopeless. So here I am, in one the very few households with only one child.

Whenever I tell people I am an only child, I get responses like, “Wow, you don’t act like it.” I didn’t really know what they meant by that until I met other only children and understood why we were labeled “spoiled” and “socially awkward.” Those remarks have always made me wonder what my life would have been like if I had any siblings. Would I have been more popular in school? Would my parents and I have the relationship we do now? Would I have experienced more things? Would I have been a good sister?

All my life, I’ve been told I’m lucky I don’t have a brother or sister to deal with. I am usually told this when I witness a fight or some sort of altercation between siblings. Little do they know how insanely jealous I am of their little interactions good or bad.

I never got to bicker back and forth with siblings. I’ve always wanted that. Whenever I tell someone, they say, “Why would you want that?” And I cannot honestly answer that question without blatantly saying I wanted to fight when I was younger. I myself don’t understand it. But, I love seeing siblings interact with each other, because they know how to push each other’s buttons then love each other the next day.

I got lonely. Yes, I had friends to call up but they weren’t always available. I would come home everyday after school to an empty house until my mom or dad came home 3 hours later. It sounds pretty great, but also pretty quiet. I never had a brother or sister to confide in for the important stuff like school troubles, first dates, outfit opinions, etc.

Life of an only child gets super boring. I hear stories of when people were younger when and their siblings did something like take trash can lids and riding them down an icy street or when they would ride their bikes down the hill to see who can go the fastest without falling off. I truly feel that my childhood was at a somewhat standstill when it came to finding creative ways to have fun.

I guess there were some positives to being an only child. I got more presents for every occasion, I never had to worry about someone stealing my clothes, I got the house to myself every once in a while, etc. But there’s just something about all those things that can’t make up for the special bond between siblings.

In conclusion, say thank you to your siblings, because imagine how different your would be life without them.