I Always Wanted A Sibling | Photo Editing Blog
- memoriescpg
- Feb 8
- 3 min read
I grew up as an only child, begging my mum and dad to have another baby. I always wanted a sibling, and I didn't even care if it was a boy or a girl like most kids would have. I told my parents that I'd help look after a baby, and I'd be a good big sister. I always loved babies, so I knew in my heart it would be a good role for me. I wanted a brother or sister so badly that I even begged my mum to consider adoption.
Fast forward to my teen years, and it was very obvious my dream of a sibling was long out the door, along with the typical family life when my parents separated. I made do with my cravings for wanting a sibling, with other family members- second cousins and such, but it never really filled that empty void of desperately wanting my own people.
Both my parents had many siblings of their own, so they never understood the lonely feelings I had growing up with no real community. As an adult, I dated mostly people with no siblings or people who had siblings they didn't get on with. By that point, I’d become totally numb to this foreign concept of siblings. Who'd even want one kid in these days, I'd lie to myself.
In the year 2021, the world stopped; a year many look back on with upset and loss. I am fortunate to say I look back on this time with happiness. I’d met my husband, in the middle of lockdown. We made our long-distance work. Hard work was an understatement. It wasn't just a lockdown plus a long-distance relationship with him being a town over. He was an ocean away. He is from the USA, while I am from Scotland, in the UK. With much time, energy, tears and pure determination, we made it! We got him over to the UK on a family visa. We now have a beautiful girl of our own, and while we have no plans for gifting her a sibling anytime soon, we are not closed to it like my parents were. We were even considering adoption before we were married.
There is just one problem for our family. Our siblings are not here. I always wanted a sibling, and marrying into his family meant I would gain not one, not two, but NINE siblings, not including their spouses or our niece and nephews! I found my people—the siblings I always wanted. A family, with all its rocky ups and downs, is like any family. And I miss them desperately, even after only meeting them in person a handful of times. They are the type of family that once you’re in, that's it. You’re their kin, and they will do anything for you, and you for them. They are my family.
With distance being such a heartbreaking thing for our family, I am proud that I can at least make the family feel whole with my editing skills. It is an illusion at the end of the day, but I am determined to make sure our daughter knows her family. Her aunts, uncles and amazing cousins. If that means she knows them from photos, then that's what I'll do. We may be far apart in person, but we are always with our siblings in spirit. Our hearts are always in sweet home Alabama. My heart is always with my siblings.
Comments