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Siblings by Chance, Best Friends by Choice

We have all heard the song that goes,
“John and Lucy sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage.”
Can we say that this song still applies to society today? Do people really fall in love, get married, and then have children? Unfortunately, the world seems to be moving away from the idea that you get married and then have children.
In today's society the average age for a woman to get married is 28 and the average age for a man to get married is 30. This may not seem like an issue at first glance, but as we look closer at what is really happening it proves to be one.
As people decide to prolong marriage, this doesn’t mean that they necessarily decide to prolong having children. This presents its own challenges for those children being born without married parents. It is also not uncommon for the parents of the child to split up which leaves the child growing up in a one parent home.  
The other side is that people are prolonging marriage which may cause them to choose to prolong having children. Although they seem to be going in the correct order they do not have as much time to have more children, so they decide to only have one or two. In some countries it is even frowned upon to have more than this.
You may be thinking, why are big families important? There are many ways and reasons you could give to answer this question however; I want to answer this question with my own personal experience. I have 4 siblings. Three older sisters and one younger brother.
My mom got married young (about 21 years old) and started having kids shortly after that. I am so grateful that she wanted to have a big family because I can’t imagine my life without my sisters or brother. Each one of them have played a crucial role in my life.
Was life always easy having 7 people all in one house? No way! At times it was very difficult. There was fighting and arguing that would happen daily, however, it is in my family and particularly my siblings that I gained some of the best friendships I have.
My older sister Kathryn and I are 14 months apart. Everyone growing up thought we were twins and to this day whenever we are together, we get tons comments about how much we look like one another.
Growing up we shared clothes, we talked about boys, talked in weird voices with each other, did sports together, and had more inside jokes than the average person. We had our own friends and clicks, but we were always close. We would have people tell us in high school that it was “weird” that we were best friends with one another because we were sisters. To us, we saw it as the greatest thing ever! We lived under the same roof as one of our best friends, how lucky were we?!
Today I can’t imagine what my life would be like without Kathryn, or any of my other siblings for that matter. They are the ones I turn to when I go through something hard. They are the ones I rely on when trials come. Life isn’t always roses and butterflies, but we always have each other. Someone who will never leave. Someone who will always be there for us. Someone who loves us no matter what.
To this day my dad always comments that one of his favorite things is when all of us kids are home and we are all in the kitchen together laughing way too hard at old memories or inside jokes. When we are all together, we have so much fun. We laugh and joke and have a blast! None of this would have happened though had my parents not taken an active approach to starting a family.
What do you want your future family to be like? If you haven’t thought about it, now is the best time! If we don’t prepare for it and plan on it, then we can’t be disappointed when it never happens.

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