Monday, April 02, 2007

Last place?

I'm the youngest of six (3 step-brothers & 3 step-sisters) and I'm biologically an only child so I know I have some selfish tendencies based on birth order studies. Interestingly, I am marrying a man who is the oldest child of his family (he has 2 younger brothers). The reason this is interesting is because whenever we hang out with his family I always feel as though everything is out-of-order with them. In my family, my brothers and sisters had children or got married oldest to youngest - logically, I am getting married last of all my siblings (with the exclusion of my oldest brother who is a self-proclaimed lifelong bachelor). In my family, my sisters and brothers are all very different from each other and I'm not usually very jealous of their accomplishments or material belongings, nor do I tend to compare my tastes to theirs. But when I'm with Urban Cowboy's family I can't seem to fight the jealousy monster back and I always find myself comparing our accomplishments and material belongings to his siblings. Today I found myself playing the comparison game and I'm not even with any of them, I'm sitting at home alone! Urban Cowboy and I are planning to buy a house soon and I sometimes check out the prices of new furniture; today I was looking at dining room tables and I found myself thinking "ooo, I like that but the chairs look too much like UC's brother's chairs" or "that's nice but maybe they'll think I'm copying after them since it's similarly colored". (SIGH) I am so happy to be getting married but I continue to dislike the familial politics involved with being part of a yet another clan. SO, the whole reason why I feel as though Urban Cowboy's family is out of order is because he is the oldest but the last to get married, buy a house, and, obviously, we don't have any kids. It just feels backwards to me to go 3-2-1 versus 1-2-3. I also sometimes selfishly feel as though the younger brothers have somehow robbed UC of his rightful glory - I know, I'm ridiculous to feel this way. Everything we do, as a couple, is always going to be measured against what they've done and no one will ever feel the same level of excitement for our marriage or children as they did for 3's and 2's marriages and pregnancies. We're old hat. This is a continuing theme in my head and I have to figure out a way to move past it. I hate the green monster (jealousy) and I hate that I so easily succumb to it. :-(

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