I was the favored child at first, but then my sibling took over.

Being the favored sibling was fine when I was young, but as I got older, I rebelled against my role.

In the beginning, I was the golden child. My mom told me that before I was born, she was grappling with both an unhappy mistake of a marriage and a 4-year-old who had kicking, screaming tantrums every day for hours. I came into the world happy, with a headful of blonde curls and laughing with delight. While my older sister was not so happy about my sticking around, I puppy-followed her everywhere, and at first, we both basked in our mom’s delight. (Don’t ask about our dad, an angry abuser, who thankfully was rarely there.)

But when I turned 12, all alliances shifted. Of course they did, I was 12! While my sister was Velcroed to my mother, wearing the same shocking pink or neon green clothes, my hormones began to change me. I grew more private. I wanted my door closed and my clothing black. My mom, perplexed, yanked my door open and asked me how my day was, and I kept silent. She bought me the same bright clothing she bought my sister, but I never wore it. Mostly, she began to hate my now-black hair, my long sheepdog........

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