Independence

As the youngest I was fortunate to always get my way or so it goes in many family story telling sessions. I got it all, while the elders were without, struggling, hardly a toy to play with, fruit in their stocking and no presents at Christmas. Okay my memory may not be completely correct on some of the facts but I know that somebody only had fruit for Christmas. Anyway, I do know that while I was often given a ride or carried around, I had to learn to make my own way.
When I was young, I was the baby. When I was older I was an only child. That may sound impossible but it was true. My siblings left home when I was still young. So I had the best and worst of both worlds.
When there were others around I could get support, ride on their coat tales or dig through their dresser drawers. And it was always "their" fault, whoever "their" was. Never my fault. He did it, she did it, they made me do it. All I know is I was more then happy to point some fingers and there were some pretty good finger pointing
duels over the years.
When I was older however I no longer had a wagon to hitch my trouble to. I was the only one home so no matter what it was going to be me that took the fall. And while I do not believe in ghosts I often accused some unseen force of committing the crime. "I don't know who did it, I just know it wasn't me." to which I would hear "Well I don't see anyone else around, do you?" It was worth a shot, can't blame a gal for trying.
The one thing that became evident very early in my only child phase was that there was going to be more opportunity for me to decide what to do, where to go, who to hang out with. It was a lot of fun and yet a bit lonely. I had to learn to entertain myself, and explore to see what I liked. In the past it had always been what the group wanted to do or where the parents wanted to take us. Suddenly the old people would throw their eyes on me and say "Well, where do you want to go?" It took quite awhile for me to get used to the responsibility and to think of what it was that I liked.
I had to begin exploring who I was and who I wanted to be. I was not a little sister or a pain in the rear (though I believe that is still open for discussion) but I was an individual being requested to have an independent thought. At that young tender age I had to make life changing decisions such as do we go see "Yellow Submarine" or "Robin Hood" (the Disney cartoon version). Or what building of the Smithsonian do you want to see? That really is an enormous decision because there are like 100 buildings with enough artifacts to entertain a person for 20 lifetimes.
I become an only child and was encouraged to start making decisions about myself. The combination of both childhood experiences has given me great confidence as an adult. I always have the support of my siblings. I have learned to enjoy my independence and make those big decisions because I know I will have those siblings to pick me up if I need it.