08 July 2013

The Plight of the First Generation Eldest Sibling*

*A/N: That title sounded bleaker than I meant it to but ...

Shout-out to all the firsts. 
The first to go to college, 
the first to get a job, 
the first to move out, 
the first to really succeed. 

The translators,
the navigators, 
the form filler out-ters. 

The ad-hoc financial aid counselors,
the conciliators, 
and conflict mediators. 

The big brothers and big sisters who are expected to come back
Who want to come back
Who can't come back

The ones to whom family is another full-time job
The ones who are raising kids they never birthed
But bathed

We were the first to leave and we're the first to return
We feel the weight of success 
And bear the burden of not having done enough
While trying to do the most

Shout out to the oldest (not the wisest) 
Shout out to the middle kids for whom this is true
And shout out to the only-ies, cause it's lonely

Shout out for the first but not the last