Abi and I

Samuel Paasch

Matthew Brunson

ENG-101-147

February 2, 2010

The Joy of Having a Sister

Every morning, after I wake up, I stumble my way toward the restroom. With perfume in the air, and facial makeup around the sink, I am constantly reminded of the fact that I live in the same house as a teenage girl, and that my life has been impacted so much, that I can’t imagine what life would be like without her. The birth of my sister, Abigail, has been, without a doubt, the most influential event that has made the most impact on my life. Ever since she was born, there were drastic changes that affected my life. The change didn’t come to pass in one day of my life, but rather took several years of growing up together.

Now as I look back, I see three time periods of how this entrance of this girl to the world changed my life: before my sister was born, when my sister was born, the years after she was born.

Before my sister was born I was your happy-go-lucky child. Nothing could really get me down. Since both my brothers were at least six years away from me, they really didn’t want me following them around everywhere. But I thought I was just like them, and had to do everything they did. I never grew angry quickly, and I rarely ever hit or intentionally harmed any of my brothers.  I had a real carefree lifestyle, as there was never any competition for me for anything. I had all the fun, love, and care that I wanted.

Being the youngest I had grown accustomed to getting all the attention. There was always a family member to play with or to do something with. Whether I wrestled with my oldest brother, or played cars with my dad, most of the day there was someone to have fun with. The highlight for me was whenever we had company over. This is when I became the main event. My grandparents were my favorite people to visit with. Since I was the youngest, they would pay more attention to me rather than anybody else. I enjoyed getting so much attention, and at the time I really didn’t want to share any of it.

Although the idea of having a sister sounded like a lot of fun at first, I was really in for a surprise when she did come. I thought I’d have someone to play with, someone to have fun with, since both my brothers were at least six years away from me. But when my sister finally came, things were definitely not as I fathomed. For when my sister was born, she came out angry at the world. She constantly cried and pouted, and it seemed as if she was always angry. Anytime my brothers or I got close, she would throw a fit. The idea of having fun with my sister quickly changed into thinking that my sister would never have anything to do with me.

I soon found out that my parents were no longer the authority in the house. The baby took control of the house, as she decided when we got to sleep, or get up. Everyone, including me, was running to and fro, trying the best they could to make accommodations for the baby, which proved to be almost impossible, as my sister was never pleased. Going through each day, if you wanted something, the unspoken rule was, “The baby is always first.”

As mentioned earlier, I had all the attention I needed. But then after my sister was born, I was forced to share my attention with her. As with any mother with a baby, my mom had to continuously care for my sister. I didn’t mind at first, but I had grown used to my mom being there every time I wanted her. I soon wished I could take my sister back where she came from. My mom constantly had to deal with my sister, so she ended up with the bulk of the attention.

My brothers and I were introduced to Barbie, and other “girly” toys. Our first impression of Barbie was, “whoa, look at all the accessories she has.” I quickly learned the fun it is to take a Barbie doll, decapitate it, and then add ketchup for effects. The toy box became overflowed with dolls joining with the GI Joes, and stuffed animals with the hot-wheel cars.  Play jewelry was soon mixed with the army guns and accessories. Although strange at first, I believe we finally got used to the presence of “girly” toys around.

Since Abigail and I were so close in age, we had to do stuff together, and ultimately share with each other, which sounded easy, but in reality, was one of the hardest lessons to learn. At only three years apart, Abigail was the only one around to play games with, or watch cartoons with. When it came time for cartoons, we each had our own favorite shows, which always conflicted with each others’. Also, Abigail was the only girl in our family, and with three older brothers, she grew interested in most of our toys and games. That didn’t seem fair to me, since she liked to play with my toys just as much as I did. When we got along and played together, we had a great deal of fun. But many times it wasn’t very long before we got tired of each other, or one got upset with the other, and then Abigail or I usually got angry and threw something, or hit one another.

As Abigail grew, my brothers and I quickly found out that she had an amazing throwing arm, with accuracy that would make a baseball pitcher envious.  She was also like a sharpshooter, making most of her hits a head shot. Once, while I was chasing Abigail into a room, I entered the doorway, and all I saw was a bell flying through the air, toward my face. From then on, my mother made sure her throwing habit came to its end.

During the first several years growing up together, we were mortal enemies. It seemed like we always fought every time we did something together. Whether we went swimming, playing outside, trips, or even spending the night at my grandparents, there was sure to be a fight along the way. The strife between us was so bad, that my grandparents would only let one of us stay the night at a time. It even accelerated to the point where I purposely annoyed my sister, playing mean tricks on her, and plotting out every detail. Although we were enemies at the time, I wasn’t too long that we finally changed our behavior, and became really close to each other.

As time has flown by, the tide has turned, and although once enemies, we now get along just fine. We still do so much together, since we both still have most of the same interests, and friends. The difference now, is that we no longer fight with each other like we did when we were younger. The older we became, the more we got along with each other.  Since I’ve come to college, we both came to realized how much we really miss each other. Several times, last semester, she would get angry with me, because I wouldn’t go do anything with her, for I was too busy. We have now both concluded that life could have never been as great without having one another.

I now see how much I actually like to spend time with my sister. Looking back, I realize the good that having a sister has brought to me, and the joys that came too. Although we both had our fights and scars, I wouldn’t change anything, even if I could. Abigail has made life more adventurous for me, and each adventure contains a great memory that lasts forever. And so every morning, as I smell the perfume, and clear the counter of makeup and supplies, I am reminded of the joy and blessing that was given to me when my sister was born.

Abi and I making funny faces

Wednesday through Saturday, February 18-20, was the Speech and Debate tournament in St. Louis.

We left Tuesday, late morning, so we could get there in good time and have the rest of the day to relax. Several others were there early too, so we all got together and went to the St. Louis Mills Mall. There we ate at their food court. We were having a good time taking pictures of each other, and of the surrounding stores, when a mall cop came and told us that we’re not allowed to take pictures in the mall. It’s in their security rules. So anyway we went to the Cabella’s store in the mall and got to look around. Later we got back to the hotel so we could get to bed early, because we had to get up at 5:30 am the next morning.

The Next morning we got up early and got ready for the tournament. We did one round of all our speeches, while the debaters did three rounds. I got to meet up with friends that I made from other tournaments, and make new friends. Abigail and I left a little early to go back to the hotel to swim with our friends. After swimming for an hour, everyone from our speech and debate squad went to the mall to eat at Jonny Rockets, a 50’s style diner. I had a double rocket burger, which I think was the biggest on the menu. I tasted great, but it wasn’t that big. We then split up into groups and shopped around the mall. We didn’t get back to the hotel until around 10 or later.

The second day we had to get up even earlier. We ate breakfast and left for the tournament. This time the day dragged on as we did two rounds of each of our speeches. I was on my feet for most of the day, rushing between speeches and timing debates. It was a very long day as we didn’t get back to the hotel until around 10pm. We played some games with our friends and got to bed at around 11pm.

The last day of the tournament went by rather smooth. The debaters had a round early and had to go first. So my family, along with some others, slept in, because we didn’t have to be there until later. At about 8am we packed all our belongings and checked out, and headed toward the tournament. I made it into finals with my Expository speech. I didn’t have my finals until later that afternoon. Afterwards we decided to head home and skip the award ceremony. We got back at about 7pm. It was a great tournament. I found out that I got 8^th place in my Expository.