5. Only he knows your parents’ quirks as well as you do.
Your sister or brother is the only person in the world who knows your parents as well as you do.
He or she is a witness to your childhood. He’s the one you can check with to see what happened on that rainy summer Saturday when you were six and he was eight, and mum was getting on your nerves.
Thanks to your sister, you’ll always have a different perspective on your childhood. Even if you remember things differently and disagree about everything, he’ll still give you a sense of perspective.
6. Without her, your children wouldn’t have cousins.
Cousins! Cousins are wonderful. How much more miserable your children’s lives would be without them.
So even if you and your sibling are squabbling over a cottage renovation or parenting, cousins may have been blessed by him or her.
That alone makes your sibling a treasure.
7. A sibling clears the way.
If you have an older sibling, he or she has cleared the way: hit puberty first, fought with mom and dad over curfew and socializing, wrinkled up before you, gone through menopause a few steps ahead of you so you know what to expect.
He’s had to do all the hard stuff before you. You’ve watched from the sidelines, learned your lesson, decided that’s exactly what I’m going to do, or at least that’s not what I’m going to do.
That’s how he’s taken care of you, maybe without even realising it.
