By Shelby Peck | Copy Editor
I’m the oldest of four (and somehow the shortest). When I came to Baylor in August 2021, which now seems like a lifetime ago, an unopened world lay ahead of me — a new environment in which I could create my own experience.
Being the oldest means you’re the first for everything. Life as a guinea pig isn’t always perfect, and there’s something really scary about being the first to move out and forge your way forward. Wherever you fall in the sibling lineup, the fearful feeling of realizing “home” is no longer a permanent space is universal.
When I left for college, I wasn’t simply beginning a new life; I was leaving one at home as well. And try as I might, it’s been five semesters, and I still don’t think I’ve ever fully blended both places.
While I was experiencing life on my own — whether fighting for survival while running the Baylor Line or overcoming the challenges of rhetoric — my siblings were living their own lives too. They were just beginning the tumultuous days of junior high or playing baseball or learning to drive.
Now that my brothers’ voices have become octaves deeper and they stand an entire foot taller than me, I’m sad it took me so long to realize such a simple truth. Just because I had already grown up and done most of the things that come along with it, didn’t mean they had. They are experiencing things for the very first time, and they deserve all the attention and applause in the world for it.
Your siblings are your very first friends, and I do believe they are meant to be some of your best. There’s no one else in the world who has walked so much of the same path as you or knows the ins and outs of your family dynamics. There’s no one else who knows your heart by the look on your face or uses the same humor to cope at inappropriate moments as you do.
Your relationships with your siblings are ones that are worth really investing in.
It takes effort, especially if you live hundreds of miles apart. There are days I ask my brothers how they’re doing and get a thumbs-up emoji in response. But for every “good” or “OK” response you get, you’re making a very wise investment in the sibling relational bank. Every MLB reel you send or random YouTube challenge video you watch means something. If you care about what your siblings care about, they’ll interpret it as you caring about them.
Personalities can be exponentially different, and there’s a lot of family hurt that makes relationships really messy. My siblings and I don’t have perfect relationships, but we have healthy ones. We call one another out when we fail, and we pick each other up when we fall. We sometimes agree on what to play in the car (except Taylor Swift) and show up for each other, even if it’s a mercy-ruled soccer game and it’s freezing outside.
Now that our time together is centered around holidays, vacations or Baylor games, it becomes so much more special. There will probably be some bickering, but there are also a lot of moments to store in my memory box.
