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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Sibling(s) (05/01/08)
Growing up in a large family of ten, you are blessed with an abundance of different ideas, personalities and an unbreakable bond of love. However, the one thing you are constantly searching for is privacy.
I have only just begun to realize how in such seemingly long days, the weeks seemed to fly by so fast. Monday was washday. All above the age of nine had a basket of clothes to iron and put away. Tuesday was baking day. We would race each other home to reach the smell of yeast rolls baking in the oven. On Wednesdays, there was midweek prayer service. Dinner dishes had to be washed and put up before church started at six o’clock. Thursdays were the family grocery day. Everyone helped to put away what seemed at the time as endless cans, bags,and boxes of food, staples and drinks. Bulging cupboards looking like they would last forever would slowly disappear. The long row of cereal boxes fell like domino’s before the week was over.
Fridays began the weekend, which was always lively, if you weren’t "in the dog house:” a phrase that meant you were grounded. And because my parents didn’t believe in sparing the rod, you can guarantee someone was sure to get lit up with that skinny limber switch from the weeping willow tree out back. Just thinking about the sting of it was enough to make me stop cold in the middle of a giggling whisper when I heard my mother loudly clear her throat and roll her eyes at me during church. There was never any privacy, even in the house of the Lord, while trying to pass notes on the back of the church bulletin.
The closest I had to privacy was in the room I shared with my sister Deb, who was one year younger than me. I had one side of the room and she had the other. My side was neat and orderly, while hers looked like a bomb went off in it. I was constantly kicking objects back across the imaginary line that separated my half of the room from hers. I had the wardrobe and she had the closet, when you looked at her closet, it would remind you of a washing machine over flowing with soapsuds. The soapsuds were a trail of clean and dirty clothes bursting out of the closet. Although we would have great times playing games, Barbie dolls and doing things sisters do, I hated how messy she was. She knew that every time mom made a surprise visit to the room she would be grounded, but even punishment did not help. I wanted my own space so bad that I even entertained the thought of running away. I would then be caught and put in a foster home with a wealthy childless couple just searching for a daughter to spoil rotten. I dreamed of the antique white bedroom set complete with matching desk, and a princess phone by my bed. I would open the lid to my jewelry box and watch the ballerina dance, then close my ruffled white Priscilla curtains. Yes, that was indeed the life I deserved.
The next month right before we had our family meeting mom said she had a surprise for me.
As soon as we were seated, she began, ”as we all know Cynthia will be leaving this fall for medical school” nobody winced. We had heard nothing but her bragging for the last two weeks. She continued, “Now it is time for Elaine to have her own room”. “What”, “What did she say?” I replied. I was like the lion in the Wizard of Oz who awoke from his fainting spell when the wizard said he would give them their wish.
Finally! I had the privacy of my own room. I could close the door and lock out the world, or open it if I chose to do so. My room was neat,with everything in its proper place. I did not mind the absence of the antique white bedroom set or the princess phone by my bed. I didn’t miss having ruffled white Priscilla curtains or the dancing ballerina jewelry box. But after a while, I really missed my sister.
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This article has been read 866 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Yvonne Blake 
05/09/08
(smile!) With eight children, I could imagine how excited you were over your own room.
It helps the reader if you put an extra space between your paragraphs.
Well done. Keep writing.
Debbie Fuhry
05/09/08
Good article. I could definitely relate: Being the youngest of five, I remember how pleased my sister was when she finally got messy little me out of her room.
Esther Gellert
05/15/08
I really enjoyed your descriptions of being a part of a large family, especially the weekly routine. As a mother of four children who are all sharing a room at the moment, your description of the difficulty of sharing made me smile. Thankyou for sharing this with us.