My brother & sister

Many of us have been fortunate to have siblings to go along with us in this crazy thing called life. Some of us aren't that lucky and are raised alone.  I guess whether thats a positive or negative is based on individual opinions.  When I was around 5 or 6 I really wanted a brother or sister.  My cousin Gloria had Erica and my cousin Angela had Charlie. I was just alone.  I had my cousins, but just like the whole mother & father thing, it just isn't quite the same.

Finally, on May 9, 1989 my brother Timothy was born.  I remember the day that he was born like it was yesterday.  I was 8 years old, in Mr. Lopez's second grade class at Inez Foster Elementary.  I was picked up early to go see my new baby brother.  He was the cutest thing I had ever seen.  Being a big sister was great, for a while.  I had grown to used to being an only child and hated that this new baby was getting more attention than me! I guess we all go through that.  There was such a big age difference it was impossible to really play with him, so I was really disappointed.  We got through that phase and throughout our lives we were closer than anyone could ever imagine.  We didn everything together and I even got him his first job with me when I was at Fuddrucker's (He's there still & I am not.) Things have changed quite a bit since then.  He got married and had a child since then.  I never thought that anything could separate our closeness, but this did.  Since then were hardly talk, it's so sad.  For almost a year I was depressed, but have since have learned to come to terms with it.

I remember when my mother came to stay with my grandmother & I for a while and I just KNEW that she was pregnant.  I told her & my grandmother this and they both thought I was crazy. Well, I wasn't.  She found out that she was pregnant and that is when I told her that I was about to have a sister, the sister that I always wanted.  By this time I was 12 years old and in the 7th grade.  I have a fond memory of my middle school best friend, Angela & I painting her crib white in my grandmother's backyard.  On April 8, 1993, my baby sister Gabriela was born.  She was my baby from the start.  Every night I would sing "Baby Mine" to her and rock her to sleep.  I feel more like her & Tim's mother than sister.  This year my baby graduated from high school & I have never in my life felt more proud than I did that day.  Gabriela & I are still closer than ever and am so proud that she has already started college & broke the cycle of teenage pregnancy & marriage that my mother, me, & my brother Tim all went down.  I am afraid of losing that bond like I did with my brother, but I feel like women are different & that everything that me & my sister go through in life, we will be doing together.

I may not have had the childhood that every child should have, but I was not alone.  No matter how many years it took, I got exactly what I asked for.  Some may say that being an only child is better, but they've never been lucky enough to have Tim & Gabby, so they don't know what they are missing.

Til next time, Gen