To Know Me is to Love MeSidetracked Sisters

Anyone who says being a kid or much less a teenager is fun has never been one. Well, my remembrance of being a teenager sort of makes me shudder. I was one of those kids that most parents would, at times, never want. I was rebellious, didn’t like the word “no”, hated restrictions, and liked to do anything at least once to see if it was worth doing again.

I had an older sister who was the kind of kid who did everything right. She excelled in school, did what was expected such as following all the rules, excelling in school, and because of this was able to do just about anything she wanted to do. ‘Then to make things worse I had a younger sister who was a pleaser and tried to do everything right. I was a middle child and as they say, middle children tend to be more adventuresome, creative, and a whole other kettle of fish. Being this type of child created a lot of heartache for me. For one thing, it limited my parents giving me permission to go to dances, football games, and all the fun things that are related to school. Why, because they couldn’t trust me to follow the rules such as curfew, often the location of my activity, and what friends I was associating with. You see, my inability to be the model child like my sisters set the pattern for which I was expected to live. Now, I see that I did this to myself.

Thinking back I really don’t know why I chose to create problems for myself. Being a middle child I think it was my way of being noticed. At one point I actually saw in my mind two roads. One of total destruction which I was headed, and one of happiness, respect, and success. Thank God I chose the second one and tend to offer this example to kids that will listen.

I had a lovely, loving family. My mom for the most part was a stay-at-home mom, my dad had a steady income, We lived in a beautiful home on a fantastic neighborhood, and I always felt loved and safe even when I didn’t deserve it.

My dad was a screamer and one time when I was eighteen I took the car which I was given permission to use for the one and only time in my life and went to a beer party. Well, this created total silence from my dad and this was much worse than any amount of screaming. You see, I had totally disappointed him. I think I grew up that night and didn’t like feeling that I could disappoint someone that loved me so much.

Middle School in my opinion is the worst age and I would never want to go back to that time again. It is a time of experimentation with rules, restrictions, and life lessons.

My mom and dad definitely deserve medals for having to put up with me. There were many, many instances that actually seem funny at this time, but I’m glad I am not a teenager today because what I did back then was not nearly as severe as what teenagers experience today, not to mention the consequences.

God bless the middle school kids that thrive and survive.