I learned this past week that there is a day called "Sibling Day". This past Thursday, if you searched various social medias sites, you found your friends with sibling pictures exclaiming how close they are and how much they appreciate each other. I didn't follow suit, because I found this process to be a little bit cliche, but also I felt this story deserved more than just picture and a well-crafted status update.
Taryn is 22. She works as both an aide for a preschool and an assistant in an art studio. As a hobby she is self-professed Disney expert and a passionate ice skater. She lives with my parents. Society tells me she has a disability.
When I was around 12 years old, I participated in an organization called Sibshop. Sibshop was created for youth who have siblings with disabilities. I was apart of this group briefly, but during that time I learned to embrace my challenges, recognize my feelings, and learn how to cope & manage.
I consider myself a realist, so don't expect me to explain a thunderstorm into a sunny day. I wonder sometimes about how life could be. Almost all our family trips were to Disney World, I wish we could have gone on other adventures like camping or skiing or to the White House or NFL games. I feel cheated that although my sibling relationship involved the normal bickering & support of one another, we don't get to grow up the same way. We won't get to drive to each other's houses for holidays to visit with our expanded families. I won't get to strike fear into any of her potential boyfriends. We didn't get to visit each other at college and spend a night out on the town living each other's life. We won't even get to figure out together how to help our parents transition into retirement.
There may be those moments I have felt cheated and dreamed about the typical relationship, but I have learned a valuable lesson over the years, I have the perfect sister for me.
With any younger sibling, especially a sister, you want to protect her. Unfortunately, when she was in middle school, I was in high school and when she was in high school, I was in college. I had to rely on younger friends to watch out for and protect her. You expect your younger sister's challenges to be dating or keeping good friends, but I had to worry about my sister learning how to read & complete math problems. Academics came easy for me, but for her she had to struggle to meet an IEP tailored to her abilities. Sometimes, I was unfairly frustrated with her struggles, because I wanted my sister to be just like in the top math classes in my grade. What I didn't expect was she would eventually achieved it all. For her, learning to read was like me learning integrals in college Calculus. However, when the going got tough for her she pushed onward most times with a smile & a positive attitude, but for me, the "typical" one, I accepted that acing Calculus isn't within my abilities & a C is good enough to move on. I wonder how can she be the one with the disability when she exceeded past her expectations and I struggled to meet my own.
It was because of Taryn, I became interested in helping others. Without Taryn, I don't think my life perspective would be the same. It is because of her that our family
took interest in our community and helping the needs of others. My mother helped form an ice skating programming for people with disabilities in our hometown and I joined an organization that gave grants to community service projects. It is because of her I care about those who are less fortunate. Without her, I wouldn't have wanted to volunteer at my church and become a mentor to middle school youth eventually finding my way to mission trips in St. Louis, Memphis, and Haiti. It is because of her I want to find a way to finish the church of La Coma.
So yes, my little sister is my role model. Her perseverance through challenges I couldn't have imagined has inspired me to push myself just a little bit further. If she could learn to read with all my abilities that I have been blessed with and business training that I have been afforded, I can overcome my fears like those of public speaking, introducing myself to strangers, and tackling unfamiliar experiences to take on challenges I used to think I wasn't skilled enough for like managing a project at Toyota, leading a church small group, and supporting a fundraiser like Hearts for Haiti 5K. We all need a bit of inspiration, don't we?
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