Today Is National Siblings Day and I Have Six Reasons to Celebrate

Today is National Siblings Day. If you get along with your siblings like I do it's a day to celebrate. I know families where siblings don't even talk to each other and I'm sure National Siblings Day does not mean as much to them.

Let me tell you about my family. I am one of seven children. My brother Gene, who passed away last year from cancer, was the oldest, I'm the youngest, and there were five sisters born in between. My sisters in order of birth are Jeanine, followed by Margaret, then Nancy the middle child, my sister Gert, or as all my aunts and uncles called her 'Trudy', and my sister Ann who is a year-and-a-half older than me.

For the most part, we all got along very well growing up. There would be some arguments from time to time but nothing really out of control. On the air this morning, I mentioned about the time my sister Gert was about to make dinner and my brother Gene was teasing her about something. My sister was so mad that she took the empty pot by the handle that she was about to make food in and swing it at my brother who put his arm up to defend himself. It hit him on the elbow and actually left a dent in the pot. I was really young at the time and I remember yelling for them to stop but after seeing the dent in the pot, even my brother could not stop laughing.

I could not imagine growing up without my siblings. There was always someone to talk to or play with at the house. There was a five-year gap in the birth of the children between my sister Gert and my sister Ann the one that is only a year-and-a-half older than me. Which meant when I needed a ride somewhere, there were five eligible drivers to take me. And, as a kid, I would blackmail my sisters from time to time to get them to take me somewhere. If they were going out with friends, even just for a ride, If I wanted to go, I would weasel my way in by threatening to tell my parents something my siblings did not want them to know. Even my older sisters would end up with me riding in the back seat of their boyfriend's car on what was supposed to be a date. I would ask the boyfriend If I could go with them to get ice cream or where ever they were going, and a couple of times their boyfriends said yes, which my sisters did not like very much. I really didn't care, I got free ice cream out of the deal. When I think about my blackmail tactics of the past, I'm surprised my siblings still talk to me.

I hope you get along with your siblings the way I do.