How do you think having siblings (or not having siblings) affects who you are as a person?
I am the oldest of five. A sister who is 19, a brother who is 16, a brother who is 11, and a sister who is 4. Before I talk about how this has affected me, here's a nerdy observation: The difference between myself and my first sister is 2 years. Between my first sister and first brother, 3 years. 5 years between first and second brothers. And 7 years between my baby siblings. That's 2, 3, 5, 7. The first four prime numbers.
My baby sister, Lily, was born in 2004 during my freshman year of college. I was an 18 year-old with a newborn baby sister. At the time, I was worried that I would seem more like an "uncle" to her than a real brother. Looking back, I can thankfully say that that was not the way things turned out. I am lucky enough to go to school only 30 minutes away, and I am able to see her and my family whenever I want, which is usually once a month. Being a brother away at college gives me all of the benefits (cuteness, laughing, playing, learning) and almost none of the downsides (crying, pooping, crying, crying) of having a baby sister. She's a toddler now, and nothing else makes me happier than her reaction when I come home. She looks up and announces, "KENNY'S HERE" with the absolute brightest and most excited expression a human face can make.
I don't know what life would be like without my baby sister, and I don't want to imagine it. It's like she has increased the capacity of my heart. I love my entire family so much more than I ever did when I was living at home. My family has become my favorite part of my life, and that's in large part to having a baby sister at home.
Most importantly, having siblings much younger than myself has influenced my desires in life. A little while ago I decided that what I want out of life more than anything is to be a dad. Nothing in this world could be more important to me, and there is no goal that I want to accomplish more. I'm not saying I'd make a great dad, and I'm not saying I love kids. But being an older brother has opened my eyes to the most important and most precious aspects of life and love. I am completely certain in my desire to be a father, and I have my wonderful family to thank for that.
"Did you hear? J.K. Rowling is going to be the commencement speaker at Harvard!"
"Oh wow. If J.K. Rowling was our commencement speaker, I'd wear robes to our graduation. Seriously, ROBES."
I've wanted to start a real blog for almost three years now. After a few embarrassing attempts in 2005, I gave up any attempt at online publishing in favor of playing more Warcraft and doing more quantum mechanics. Since then I've beaten WoW and got a D in quantum. Over the past three years I've been trolling the blogosphere more and more every month, and now it's finally time for me to participate. I realize that I'm doing this at a time when blogs number in the millions. Thus I possess little hope of mass exposure and readership, but in a way I'm doing this for my own benefit as a place to put all my thoughts in a semi-concrete digitized form.
I first encountered vox.com a long time ago. I think this site has existed for almost half a year with no posts. Now I'm finally getting off my butt, and I'm going to enjoy myself writing here.
Welcome.
