I Gave Birth to my Sister’s Child

I look at my child and swear she belongs to my sister. I have a bunch of sisters and the one I am writing about has birthed no children of her own. She didn’t have to, I did it for her.  Genetically this child is my husband’s and mine, however in spirit she is entirely my sister’s.

There is the same fire in their eyes when crossed. They are both smart and funny and not at all afraid to tell you exactly what they think. My sister’s language tends to be more colorful. There are times I can see my 13 year old daughter is thinking the words she dare not say. Neither suffers fools gladly.

My sister came out of the womb wanting to run her own life and my daughter is the same way. She will never forgive us  for being born fourth in our family instead of first.

As I  struggle to survive this child’s teenage years, I live in hope.  My sister was a challenging teenager to raise but she is a great adult. The qualities that turned my mom’s hair gray during her teen years have made for a successful and interesting woman. I try to remember my kids will be adults a lot longer than they will be kids. The struggles now, hopefully, are useful building blocks for our future adult relationship. In the mean time, I am beginning to stroll though the hair dye aisle at the drug store.

Since I am graciously raising this child who is so like her, would it be unreasonable to ask my sister to pay for college?

Comments

[lenora]

I was wondering if it was me :-) had to skip through to find out.

[Carol Taber]

there is something about those fouth kids!

[Regina]

As a 4th child, I will watch out for her.