Fun Fact #43: Add teenagers to the list of things that can make me emotional

Sometimes I feel as though I've experienced parts of life that I really shouldn't have experienced yet. I played a large role in raising my youngest sister during my high school years due to my parents' rather tumultuous divorce. She and I had (and I think continue to have) a rather unique relationship, she almost felt more like my child than my sister. I believe that might be one of the reasons it has become so tough to watch her transform from a sweet little girl into a self-absorbed teenager.

I feel that I must have had some influence on the person that she's become but I worry that they've contributed more to her negative qualities rather than her positive ones. She's extremely aware of how the world works and is no where near as innocent as I was at that age, this adds to her sense of superiority that she feels around her peers. She's been exposed to so many things both because she's the youngest of four kids and because she grew up hanging out with our friends.

She used to idolize me and would excitedly call me while I was away at school just to talk. But now I've become some sort of leper. Most of the time I find her antics humorous, but her constant criticisms and whining are exhausting to deal with. There are occasional flashes of the little girl she used to be, but they're far and few between.

If anything, this experience has prepared me for the day when my own children suddenly see me as a social pariah. I also feel bad for all the things that I put my poor parents through. My dad always talks about how, in fifth grade, I abruptly came to the decision that he was "lame" and made him and my sister walk a good ten feet behind me on the way to school as not to infringe upon my utter "coolness". I remember that phase of my life(the one my littlest sister is now fully entrenched in) passing by relatively quickly, but my parents assure me that it was long and arduous process. So I'm looking forward to more years of "fun" with my littlest sister, but I still hope that she'll come out of it quickly and revert back to the way I remember her.