Sibling Day

Apparently it's National Sibling Day. I have seen it all over Facebook so it must be true. 

I have a super blended family. A couple of them. On my biological father's side, I have 1 sister, two brothers. On my biological mothers side, I have 4 sisters (one is the same as my dad's side), 2 brothers. One of these sisters is full-blooded, 2 sisters are half-sisters, 2 brothers are half-brothers, 2 brothers are step-brothers, and 1 sister is a step-sister. Did I mention one my sisters is deceased? That makes it for a whole other question when people ask, "how many siblings do you have?" On one side of my family I am the youngest but middle and on the other side of the family I am the oldest. Try explaining all of that to a genetic counselor. :)

In turn, I have my own super blended set of blended children. Three of my children are biologically mine, 1 of them is biologically mine but from a previous marriage, and 3 of them are adopted but are also my nieces and nephew. So their sibling set is complicated too. All but two of my children have extended siblings. 

How many friends do you have that you consider a sibling? I have a couple. They are so close that friend doesn't seem quite appropriate even though there is nothing biologically making them a sibling. 

How do you celebrate National Sibling Day? Did you even know it was a thing? Is it even a thing? 

To be honest, when Anitra first died, I struggled with it. Now, I smile when I see all the silly memes and remember those times of fighting over the remote (like my daughter just posted). I give heart hugs (little heart prayers) to those expressing loss of siblings. I pull memories from my mind of each of my siblings. I smile, or frown, depending on which memory is pulled. 

Being a sibling is fun! Sure, there are moments when we've each thought "dang, I wish I was an only child!" Mostly though, I feel bad for my friends who don't have siblings...they have no idea that you could hope beyond hope that one of them got blamed for whatever was messy or broken growing up; they have no idea that there's a whole language for siblings. I hope that they have friends and cousins that they consider siblings. 

I'm so thankful for all of the lessons my siblings and I have learned together, or been taught by each other. I'm thankful my kids have a wide-variety of the same. 

Happy Siblings Day! (Not to any of my siblings because they don't read this! HA!)