As the oldest sibling, a stange new role I did not see coming for myself is βthe person who knew and remembersβ
More and more often Iβm in a situation with my siblings where Iβll be like βWhatβs going on right now in the family makes sense because of what happened back thenβ and my siblings (the middle child is only two years younger than me btw) have no idea what Iβm talking about and my little snippet of information suddenly change their whole worldview.
I wasnβt burdened with other peopleβs trauma and secrets, but I realize now that two years made all the difference even in our teenage years and I was just more aware and the adults talked to me and told me things and perhaps didnβt think to tell the others because they βalready did itβ or something?
And the crazy thing is, I donβt even know what history, knowledge and secrets Iβm carrying around that would be complete news to the others. I feel like rattling off family history facts at the dinner table would be a bit tactless.
