“You are so lucky!” “Wow, you must have been spoiled.” “Do you enjoy being alone?” “What was it like not having siblings” There are two types of people in this world: One is on the receiving end of these statements or questions, while the other is the one asking or stating them. People are a curious bunch, so when there is something someone does not understand, they become curious to know more. We 'only child' people are a mysterious bunch. I have heard people say “Man I wish I was an only child,” or “You don’t know how lucky you are.” Well as it turns out, we 'only child' people do know how lucky we are and most of us would agree we are not that lucky. In fact, many of us would have rather had siblings versus growing up too fast, because the majority of our time was spent with adults. There are a lot of reasons being an only child was amazing. However, there were many missed out moments that I never got to experience because I grew up as an only child.
There is this idea that every only child is spoiled; the rumors are true...well mostly. My parents blessed me with many material things and vacations, and I will be forever grateful for everything that was given to me. Believe me when I say I actually worked for what I wanted, and I hated to ask for things. I was not treated unfairly or unjustly if I did something wrong and I was not constantly spoiled. I can honestly look back and say I had an amazing life with a wonderful loving family who went out of their way to give me that life. Would I give up everything about my amazing life to have a sister or brother? Yes, I would in a heartbeat. There is something special between siblings that cannot be found anywhere else. To have someone who knows everything about you, understands where you came from, the struggles you’ve had, the mistakes you’ve made, and yet they still love you. To have someone with you and by your side through every big moment in your life is something I most certainly envy.
I have always been a person who sees things as they are, which is most definitely because my parents were always straightforward with me. This helped me become more humble and want to work for myself in hopes of being able to bless my own children. My best friend has always been my mom, which she has ironically been told that she looks more like my sister more times than my actual mother. I can only pray to receive those genes. One big thing I get is that I must love to be alone since I grew up alone, however, it's quite the opposite. I would rather spend my time with my closest friends or family than be alone. I do love spending time to myself on occasion, but as soon as someone asks me, “want to come hang out?” I am there immediately. Being an only child helped me come to the realization that people are what is important, and having people you can do absolutely nothing with and still have a blast is pure gold.
Yes, yes we are lucky. We love everyone close to us. We did grow up too fast. We were spoiled at times, however, most of us still worked for what we wanted. We did not have a super easy life. Yes, we went places, and we saw things. Most of all, we wish we had a bigger family, so we would not have to force people into friendship with us. Honestly, we may not have siblings for our closest friends, but we create strong lasting relationships with people no matter where we go.
