Siblings

We’re learning how important it is both to preserve sibling relationships if they work and repair them if they’re broken.  We’re also learning a lot about nonliteral siblings-step siblings, half-siblings-and surprising power they can have…Jeffrey Kluger.  Last night M pretended to read a story to me.  We must have read The Animal Boogie over a hundred times to M.  “Boogie, oogie, oogie”, he would say after turning each page.  His B sound has improved thanks to speech therapy.  On the last page of the book, M said “THE END!”  After tucking him into bed, I wondered how M life would be different if he had a sibling.  He would have a natural born kindred friend to share his childhood learning experiences.  Someone that would impact his social skills twenty-four/seven.  I certainly understand that many beautiful individuals get along fine without having a sibling, they live a full happy life with dear friends or other family members sticking closer to them like a brother/sister.   However, I grew-up with three siblings.  We used to get into each other space all the time growing up.  We rarely had sibling misunderstanding or disagreements.  Perhaps, it was because our parents showed no comparison but rather loved, supported and encouraged each of us uniquely.  Yes, we had each others back in school.  My siblings kept me grounded.  Honestly, we have so many built memories together.  I remember once we all stood together in not telling who spilt cereal all over the kitchen floor and swept it behind the washer.  Our parents commended us for our sibling solidarity.  Hence in their loving wisdom, they unitedly agreed we should all receive the same disciplinary outcome.  Admittedly, I folded first.  Looking back, that sibling experience taught me wrong was wrong regardless who committed it and always stand for the truth.  Now that we’re all older with our own families, our sibling relationship has changed some.  True our own personal family life take a lot of our time and energy, somehow we still try to stay connected especially after our mom left this earth.  I am so blessed my sister and brothers continue to be honest, supportive and encouraging to me.  Recently, we were honored to add a new brother and sister to our sibling connection presenting lot of possible exciting new memories.  Although M may not have a sibling at this time, he does have all our love and support along with a hope of a beautiful future ( Isaiah 11:6-9).

Simply an autism mom grateful for siblings