Taking The World On With A Smile!

Take your sword and your shield
There’s a battle on the field
You’re a knight and you’re right
So with dragons now you’ll fight…

Fairytales live in me
Fables coming from my memory
Fantasy is not a crime
Find your castle in the sky 

~ Dj Satomi

Nothing contents a mother’s heart like the distant sound of chatter or laughter coming from the place where her children are playing. And nothing jump-starts a mother’s heart like the sudden shriek of discord coming from the place where her children are playing.

Sibling relationships are complicated. Mysterious. Maybe that’s because most siblings are polar opposites.

So, while it’s true that the work of children is play, it may also be said that the work of siblings is rivalry.

In a loving way of course.

Because aside from our parents, they are our first introduction to love.

They’re also our first introduction to conflict.

They are our first playmates.

And our first best friend.

Yep. Since the age of dawn or shortly there-after, let’s say since the days of Cain and Abel anyway, sibling rivalry has been a mainstay in family dynamics. It certainly was in mine and it is for my kids. I’m always suspect when people tell me they never rivaled in some way with their siblings growing up. Really? I can’t imagine what that’s like.

It’s not a bad thing; sibling rivalry. It’s a natural thing. Siblings are practice people. They help us understand who we are and let us know how we’re perceived by others. They help us find our limits and our boundaries. And when they’re not rivaling with us, they teach us about friendship.

Siblings get the first glimpse of our future through the dreams we share with them. They are lifetime confidants, the only ones who really understand the inner workings of their unique family dynamic. It’s the bond that keeps them together and tears them apart. The relationship between siblings is fickle. It can be fractured by the slightest of provocations just as easily as it can be mended by a few soft-spoken, intentional words.

If you let them, they will build it.

They might even build it together.   ~ Kavst

Little do they know, while it definitely gets easier as they grow up, it also gets harder.

It’s complex.

Siblings. They are the keeper of each others’ secrets. The holder of one another’s dreams and may they always, always help each other build their castles in the sky.

Photo Credits #1-8: ©2013 KarenSzczukaTeich & Takingtheworldonwithasmile.com