Monday, November 12, 2007

Top Ten Reasons It's Great to Be the Oldest

Adorable oldest me on the monkey bars
  1. For a brief, but lovely period in the early 1970's, I was an only child.
  2. I am the only one who has a baby book.
  3. I was first to walk, talk, go to school, read, get my ears pierced, go to middle school, drive (barely), date (rarely), graduate and leave home. (Hallelujah!)
  4. I actually remember what my parents were like in their twenties.
  5. No hand-me-downs.
  6. Bossing people around is on the job description.
  7. Now that I'm over the hill, I have all these cool and cute younger sibs to keep me hip.
  8. My parents actually bought me my dream car (yellow VW bug) my junior year! (They didn't know better...)
  9. Babysitting privileges.
  10. Six brothers and sisters who wanted to grow up and be just like me!



Top Ten Reasons It's Not-so-Great to Be the Oldest

  1. Two words--Good. Example.
  2. Being the first to get gray hairs, wrinkles, and turn 40.
  3. Actually, Mom and Dad in their twenties were not that fun. Really just hyper and kinda uptight and unmellowed. The youngsters had a much calmer set of parents.
  4. No cool big brothers to teach me about guys and no cute big sister to give me her hand-me-downs.
  5. Three little brothers and three little sisters who witnessed every faux pas of my painful adolescence, including reading my journal and mocking me as I totalled the dream car.
  6. Other people in my life (i.e. college roomates and husband) surprisingly do not enjoy being bossed around as much as my little sibling-slaves.
  7. My wedding pictures (circa 1990) look completely hideous and old-fashioned in comparison to all the newlyweds.
  8. Two of my brothers accompanied me on my first date. (Or was that just an old episode of the Brady Bunch? Actually it was both. For reals.)
  9. As soon as I moved out of the house, all the pesky, annoying and boring little people turned into cool, fun and interesting people.
  10. Now, no one wants to be me. I am the one who looks up to them...literally and figuratively!

This post is dedicated to Josh, Micah, Amy, Heidi, Peter, and Marta. We're complete...it's hard to beat this crazy gang! Love you, guys...

p.s. I want to thank Celia for inspiring this "theme post"...for more words of wisdom from oldest siblings, read her blog, or Brooke's, or Heidi's.









13 comments:

Jessica said...

I am the oldest and can so relate to this whole post--except the new car thing...my parents didn't have the money for that until they got to the youngest!

Another good thing: You do everything first so everyone is so into your college, your wedding, your mission. Probably made me think I'm way too special! =)

Bridget said...

That's really cute. I am the third of four. Hmmm, what do you call me? I fall middle to the end. I'd have to think hard to come up with pros and cons for that.

Celia Fae said...

Jessica is special. I only wish I knew she was oldest.

That post was sweet and good and I loved it. Thanks for doing it with me.

Paige said...

Fantastic. Almost makes me wish I was the oldest, except for the old part.

mama jo said...

that's a cute post...might have to write one on being the youngest...and you're not 40 yet!!

Rochelleht said...

I'm the oldest, too and I had planned to blog this in the future. I'll sit on it for a while, as it seems to be a hot topic, but let me just say that being the oldest in a poor family is the worst. My pampered little brothers have NO idea.

Christie said...

I wonder if there is a top ten list for being the coolest in your family. You and I would BOTH win that prize.

Travelin'Oma said...

Being the oldest gave me a superiority complex. Or being superior did. I don't really know.

heidiram said...

I totally forgot about the baby book part. I think I'm the only child in my family with a baby book . . . actually I think my youngest sister has one too. (My mom was ready to make baby books again after taking a 14 year break from making mine).

My firstborn son's baby book is still brand spanking new. I think I might have written his name inside of it. Maybe I can just white it out and he can use it for his firstborn.

Polly said...

You can't be 40!

laina kay said...

I'm the oldest of seven, too! Four sisters and two brothers. If I were as clever as you I would have written this post. Except for the car part (I had to buy my own and then everyone else got quasi gift cars of some sort) and the brothers on a date (although one of my brothers fixed me up with the man I eventually married)! Oh and not quite 40 yet, but fast approaching!

Jake said...

No people...I'm not 40...but to quote one of my favorite movies "I'm going to be 40...someday". (When Harry Met Sally) and someday is just around the corner. And I will be the first of the sibs to get there. That's what I meant.

laina kay said...

I really didn't believe that you were...

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