The day I was born was the day I became an only child.  My mom had been diagnosed with a very rapidly growing brain tumor when she was just a few months pregnant with me.  The rest of her pregnancy was a whirlwind-brain surgery, strokes, long hospital stays.  The day I was lifted from my mom’s uterus via cesarean her uterus was lifted with me.

So here I was alive and well, but forever an only child.  I must be honest that I have no idea what it’s like to have a sibling, but I’ve put plenty of thought into what it was like to be an only child.

Being an only child left me with my thoughts-and now that I have four children I realize what a novelty that really is.  Alone often-my thoughts piling up in my head-I would begin to form them into sentences and paragraphs.  Sometimes they came out in song-particularly when I was sitting outside and alone-on beautiful days like today.  Other times I would have to write them down.  As I got older those thoughts would be passed onto friends at school-who must have thought me pretty crazy.  Later into articles for publications and now into random ramblings on my website.

I think that being an only child has offered me a special appreciation for the life of others.  My family is never complete and I’m always looking at welcoming one more person into it.  That’s special in a world where most do not even know their neighbors-and for that I’m thankful.

So here is me warmly offering a National Happy Sibling day to all of those who were an only child and believed that your home, mom, dog, and memories were somehow a special extension of yourself-and wondered if others would ever understand.