On family
Category: People

One interesting aspect about life is that the relationships that you have with others aren’t static. You grow. Other people grow. Your interests change as do the interests of others. As a result people drift apart and people come together based on commonality (or lack thereof).

I suppose that is what makes families so darn interesting. Families are often a glob of people who, under normal circumstances, would not be close. In some cases they wouldn’t even like each other. Yet, due to a shared history and a desire to remain “family”, they work with each other to preserve what in chemistry might be considered an unstable bond.

My sister and I have, in the past, epitomized the unstable bond that is a family relationship. It is safe to say that, were it not that we were brother and sister, we would not have been close. Heck – even with that bond we went through large patches where we didn’t speak to each other.

We are two very different people.

In our youths my sister and I filled two different roles within the family. Hers was (unintentionally) to make me look good and mine was to give her a justification to rebel. We both fulfilled our roles with aplomb. The roles weren’t always fair but they were familiar. As such, they continued.

Somewhere along the line (and I don’t know where) these roles changed. My sister is now someone for whom I have a great deal of admiration. She picked a great guy with whom to settle down. She excels in her profession. She marched into home ownership and family with confidence and preparedness. She was the person to whom I turned to settle my nerves about being a first-time home owner.

We are still fairly different and I have no idea if our common interests (outside the scope of family) would be enough for us to be non-family friends. With that said, it is one of the most special relationships that I have. Being brother-sister forced us to share the full cycle of life. It is rare that you get to see someone’s growth, warts and all. It hasn’t always been easy, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

(If you thought that this post was interesting, why not read another? Perhaps a random link? Or you could just read about me.)