The banging of pots and pans force my eyes open early on the morning of my little sister Emma’s fourth birthday. I’m a mere seven years old at the time and fastly outgrowing our shared room, craving a space of my own where I don’t have to put up with the childish antics of a four-year-old. As the crashing ensues we sit in silence, waiting for the rest of our family to come in for Emma’s birthday breakfast in bed. 

Soon enough the five other members of our family come tumbling into our room, singing an out-of-tune version of happy birthday with tired eyes and raspy voices. Our dad lays the tray of food on Emma’s lap while my brother Jack and sister Kate rub the sleep from their eyes. Before I can protest, Jack flops down on the foot of my bed face first. His long legs hang over the edge as he lies perfectly still. His peace is quickly disrupted, however, by Kate plopping down right next to him, squeezing her skinny body next to him on my narrow twin bed. After five long minutes of protest to the two taking up my ever so precious space, I surrender and carefully curl up in the empty spot at the top of my bed. As Emma eats her breakfast, the soft chatter turns into a sweet lullaby that sings the three of us to sleep.

Suddenly a soft, warm hand shakes my shoulder to wake me. I rub open my eyes to see my oldest sister, Caroline, Jack, and Kate have piled onto Emma’s bed for a family photo. Finally getting the space I so desperately wanted, I insist that my mother take the photo from a wide-angle where we could all be seen from both beds. My mother reluctantly decides to take the photo, but as she’s focusing her camera, I feel a strong sense of jealousy as I see my siblings huddle together for the photo. Without a word, I scramble to squeeze onto Emma’s bed before the photo was taken. I hike my chubby, little legs up onto her bed and shove my face into the frame. My parents give soft laughs as my mother moves in to create a close frame of the photo. 

In a fleeting moment, my feelings of independence were shattered. All I wanted was to be closer to the siblings I couldn’t get enough space from. As I’ve grown, I’ve experienced the truth of this lesson more and more. As we’ve grown and moved apart from each other I’ve learned to cherish our time together.