My Siblings

 

Brother – numero uno – the boy who could do no wrong. (Well, until he hit his teens at least.)
Sister 1- (me) the smart one. (It’s a misnomer but I like it. No smarter than the others but looking smart was important to me so I worked hard.)
Sister 2- the pretty one (and the only true blonde) (and our social butterfly)
Sister 3- the other one, the after thought (and forever in our minds, the baby.)

When baby was born we were 12, 9 and 6. Three years between siblings is a rather big gap. Six nine and twelve years- that’s huge. But the differences shrink as we age.

My sister and I who share the middle spot light keep in touch the most. But I’m the only one who moved far away, so perhaps the rest of them are closer than I know.

Moving away made me the favourite child. (Another deluded belief that I cling to simply to annoy the others.) It made my children the most fussed over by their grandparents because they saw them so seldom and had to cram a year’s worth of love and attention into short holiday spaces.

My brother’s first grandchild will arrive this summer. We all share his joy.

I love my siblings dearly – I love their spouses and I love their families – I cannot imagine my life without them in it.

Valentine’s Day Thoughts

“To-morrow is Saint Valentine’s day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn’d his clothes,
And dupp’d the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more. “

—William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5

So yeah. And we all know what finally happened to Ophelia.

How do I feel about Valentine’s Day? Indifferent, actually. It’s like secretary’s day, or groundhog day, or national tooth fairy day. Slightly amusing, but ultimately unneccessary.

Great for people who are unable to dream up their own superfluous reasons for sending flowers and purchasing greeting cards and giant stuffed bears, I guess.

Or, you know, if you need another reason to eat chocolate,  it works for that.