My Siblings and I

The thing about siblings is that they know you for your (or their) entire life.

They know you. They can read the unedited thoughts behind your facial expressions, predict your emotional reactions before you unleash them, and track the direction your mind will go when triggered. They know what those triggers are and see them coming a mile away. They know what makes you crack up laughing, remember your most embarrassing moments, and can call you out on your own bullshit faster than most. There is transparency between siblings that could never be fully veiled.

My siblings and I, from the outside, appear as very different people, living contrasting lives as either married couples, single mothers, or never marrying. Our varying careers span education, travel, banking, finance, and entrepreneurialism. One of us has a degree in law. One of us has a degree in literature. One of us never finished college. One of us is tan, one of us is male, and one of us has brown eyes.

Differences are apparent, but we are of the same river. We have mostly the same upbringing, raised in the same houses, in mostly the same span of years, and were subjected to many of the same life lessons and experiences that shape and influence our life choices. Moving homes, divorce, changing schools, remarriage. Everything we were exposed to and learned from the moment we were born until we left home…