My Minions

Recently, I have met more and more people who tell me that I give off only child vibes. Although it's pretty insignificant, I am lowkey kinda offended. Growing up as the eldest of three, I've grown to take many responsibilities. Taking phone calls, answering doors, "Take care of your sisters" and "Did you feed them" were the ones I most commonly heard. During COVID the three of us were left by ourselves for ten hours at a time. Of course I loved being in the house with no adults, only I was given the task of cooking and cleaning for us. I would make sure they had everything they needed and tried to fill the role they needed. Here I must note that they are only two years younger than me, yet for quite awhile in our house we saw them as youngins. Different from me when I was their age, the things that I had to do were not forced on them resulting in that "younger sibling" vibe.

When we were younger, I took it upon myself to lead them, to become a good example of a role model for them. They used to follow me around like little ducks and copy whatever I did. There's a video somewhere where we made one of those stupid dances for our parents, but it wasn't actually a dance, it was just like them copying what I did. Once, my sister went to collect a rock by the edge of the Grand Canyon, almost falling off, and she told us I did it first, and she was just copying me (I do not remember this). Similarly, I remember when getting scolded one of the things they would always tell me “you have to lead by example”. That was the reality, and I took it with pride. I liked having little minions and being able to care for them was something that I felt was natural.

With that, as they entered high school this year I’ve noticed so many differences. From me worrying about if they would make friends to getting handfuls of birthday gifts, interacting with strangers, and enjoying her time at band camp, they’ve grown so much. No, this is not me being sentimental over my younger sisters, I would never do that; Instead, after reading about these roles in society and how they are created by the environment, I noticed that the roles in my life are currently shifting. The standard line between older and younger sibling dynamic is blurring and eventually, will probably fade altogether. Already, I notice how they now also take care of me, not to mention physically they’ve grown taller. As our parts shift, I can’t help wondering if I’ve fulfilled my part as the older sister while it lasted. There were many instances where I did not live up to those expectations, and I became a learning point for them. I hope they never follow the “bad” parts of me as we continue to move past the dividing line of age to becoming just sisters.