300 Writing Prompts in 30 Min Forum Promt 1

Jane

Promt 1 5 Years Ago If id have had the opportunity to choose whether or not I would have been born an only child or into a large family I think I would have left things the way they are. Each of my siblings, even the ones that have passed away, played an instrumental role in the development of myself, and not to mention my mother. Every day I continue to learn, grow, and define myself, in the things I do or do not do. My siblings have helped me to grow into that person both directly and indirectly. Being the oldest I was faced with a lot of responsibility and having a mother with a substance abuse problem only added to the burden. Through it all my siblings were right there beside me for the most part. We looked out for each other, explored with one another, often hated each other but most often we loved and took care of one another. There was never any telling what the day was going to be like. We learned to develop intuition as well as the ability to read our moms moods. I am the oldest of four. I have one sister who is 9 months younger than me, 1 brother born 5 years later, then our baby brother born 16 years later. My sister was a rebel in every memory I have, rule breaker, boundary pusher, antagonist, villain and sometimes a down right brat. She pushed the limits and took things to the extreme more often than not. My sister seemed to be constantly competing, come to find out later she felt as if she needed to compete against me. Her words not mine. She would claim to be suffering from middle child syndrome which forced her to behave in such terrible manners just to be seen. It took her many years to find her place. She moved the furthest away from us all in an attempt to build her own identity and life. She is fun to be around, bold, energetic, limit pushing and vibrant, but not for very long. After awhile she reverts back to her younger self and insists on being a nuisance just because that is what she always thought to be in all of our presence, and that in itself can be annoying. My brother, when we were younger was the baby, and the only boy so he got away with a little more. I remember holding him and claiming him as my baby, when my mother brought him home. He was quiet, cute and had a dad that would come and pick him up. Having a dad that came around in itself made him luckier than either myself or my sister, and we hated him for it. Though he was in an accident at a young age and stuttered terribly I defended him with words and my fists at any opportunity. He was my mother’s golden ticket at times so we would sometimes use that to our advantage. Despite our humble beginnings, my brother continues to manipulate situations with those characteristics. Growing up poor, and with a speech problem did nothing to slow him down. He came into his own quite nicely. As a young adult he is handsome, popular, and has the ability to get into and out of some interesting things. People can’t believe how he has blossomed. His charisma is appealing to both women and men. He is plain and simply a smooth operator. He has grown and developed some sort of a craft with his behavior, its interesting to watch him at times, makes him fun to be around and very hard to ever really get to know. I often find myself wondering what side of him I’m getting, because you never really can tell when he is being sincere or feeding you a load of bull. My baby brother came much later and found himself in an odd mix. The three of us having grown up basically in the streets, running around parent less and making our way without much guidance. My little brother experienced an exact opposite. My mother was healthier, and leading a very responsible life which at times clashed with our very independent natures. We were all old enough to watch him and so we had to, he did not want for anything, he got pretty much everything that he asked for and sometimes even our things. In hind sight its probably why he turned out so awful. Spoiled little s**t. My little brother was and still is easily influenced, unable to make important decisions, and living off whoever will house, and feed him. He has no real drive and instead just waits for a solution to occur. Despite having all the things he needed, love, support, a home and family he has yet to figure out it is he is doing and in fact has yet to finish anything he has ever started. All in all we make quite a group. Each of us have our own abilities, talents and strengths. We are still full of love, support and have each others backs. They really do get on my nerves and none of us talk as much as we could or should be we are there for each other in times of need and we help make my mother better and proud. I wouldn’t change them for anything. I wonder what their lives will be like and what our future entails but we make the plans and God redirects us on the path that he has designed. Family, cant do nothing but love them.