Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things About Being an Only Child

I know it's Valentine's Day, but the wife and I sort of celebrated that last week. See previous post about our trip to Las Vegas. A few weeks ago, I had nothing for T13 so I shared thirteen facts about myself. One of those facts being that I am an only child. That's right, no brothers, no sisters, just me. I know, some of you are saying to yourselves, "that explains everything."
So this week, I thought I would share some of the unique qualities that I believe many of us who are the only child have in common. Life is different when you grow up without siblings. If something is broken, guess who did it? If there is a mess, guess who made it? There was no one to blame but us. Well, not exactly, there were two brothers across the street and two more down the street that I could always push some of the blame off on...and their brother would take my side of the story. Enough background, here is my thirteen unique qualities of an only child.

1. We've always had our own room. That's not our fault, talk to our parents about that only child thing.

2. We are quite capable of entertaining ourselves and often prefer it to crowds.

3. We're an independent sort. We are used to traveling our own path in this world.

4. We are loyal. We don't have much family, so we value the friends that we have.

5. We know what we want. We didn't have older brothers and sisters telling us what we should want or settle for.

6. We tend to explore things that interest us. We may wander from the crowd at the mall because we found something in a store window that we would like to know more about.

7. We can keep a secret. We've never had anyone to share secrets with before, so why should we start now?

8. We probably have a different sense of humor than those with siblings.

9. It's not that we don't like to share, we've just never had to. That's not our fault, talk to our parents about that only child thing.

10. We are quite capable of managing for ourselves. It's that independent thing again. We are very good spouses, but if the single life suits us, we are very good at being single. I was 27 before I married Mrs. Driller, and I wasn't looking for a spouse when I met her. That was 34 years ago and I don't regret a minute that we have been together.

11. We are usually pretty good communicators. This post may prove me to be the exception to that rule. But, think about it... we never had brothers and sisters to communicate our needs for us. If we don't speak for ourselves, no one else will.

12. We are generally good friends to the opposite sex. I've never had a sister, but I had several friends in high school that were female and not involved in a relationship.

13. We can be a little moody, but stick around, we'll get over it.

Extra Credit;
14. We like pets. "I don't know mom, I guess the dog did it."

Ok, that's it for me. If you're an only child, you can probably relate to this list. If you know an only child, what traits have you seen them express?