And then I remembered the story I have been told since I was 7 years old and my parents brought my baby sister home and the first words I said when I met her were "Guess I'm just the middle kid now".
It holds true to what I know - There are hundreds of pictures of my older sister and thousands of my little sister - and a handful of me. There are quite a few that have me in them, but only because one of my other sisters was in it as well.
But you know - I never let being the middle child hold me back! While my older sister led the charge and got caught for all the things she did - I quietly sat back, took notes, and learned - "Don't get caught and all will be good"
I was the negotiator - My sister wanted to go out (now mind you there are 2 years, 6 months, 2 days, and approximately 12 hours between us - and I should not have been hanging out with her where she liked to go), but as the negotiator, it went like this:
Me: "Mom, D wants to know if she can go out cruising?"
Mom: "Dana, Why didn't she ask herself?"
Me: "Well, she said if I asked - I could go too"
You could see the bulb go on - because mom knew that while I was the negotiator - I also could not tell lies very well - so she knew that if she let us go out cruising - that she would find out what all we actually did, it was a win-win for her.
So we would go - and we would get home late and make up this wonderful story as to why we were late and we would practice it and rehearse it till I was blue in the face and the next morning when mom would ask me why we were late and I would tell her this perfectly rehearsed story she would look at me and say "Now Dana, Why were you guys really late?" and I would burst into tears and tell her the real story, which usually wound up getting my sister grounded and me in the doghouse - really!
Because we had one of these and I knew when I had made her mad.
Being the middle kid - wasn't so bad though - when I made the older sister mad - I knew I could turn to my little sister who thought I was awesome - maybe not - but it's nice to dream! Right?
I did eventually get careless and get caught - I finally did something first before my older sister - Three things actually - Had kids, got married and divorced, and married again - all first, in fact, all before she got married once! It's not something I recommend racing for though.
As the middle child, I wore many hats - I was the negotiator, the antagonizer (who would start something and walk away), and eventually the peacekeeper. How could I keep the peace if I didn't antagonize? Usually, arguments were between my older sister and me. As the oldest, she had it figured out how to get people to do what she wanted and at some point, I caught on to this game and started resisting. She didn't like that and would then threaten to take something away - like going out with her. (Although I knew she couldn't go without me - I didn't want to risk it) so we would argue and I would give in because after all, I don't do arguments well.
My mom never admitted to it - but I know deep down that I was her favorite - How could I not be! I was the good kid! (*Insert evil laugh here) Anyone that knows me can tell you many stories otherwise!
This is very much me! Although I am not insecure about much (other than the way I look sometimes)
I'm throwing this one on here because I see all three of my kids in it!
So middle kids Unite!! - On August 12th Celebrate with me!
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