If you know anything about being the middle child, you know how interesting it can be. Growing up with four other siblings was definitely not easy, but I honestly don’t know what I would do without them. I have two older siblings and two younger siblings. The oldest is my brother, Corey, and the second oldest is my sister, Karissa. Corey is now living on his own with his family, and my older sister is close by and still visits frequently. After me came my little brother, Caden, who is now 15 years old. He’s currently a freshman in high school, and probably the closest sibling to me. We’re the closest in age, so we have pretty similar interests. And the last born is my little sister, Nevaeh, who is 11 years old. Her and I are also pretty close even though we’re six years apart.

Most of my childhood was spent playing outside with my siblings or in the backyard playing with our dogs. If we weren’t outside playing, we were inside running around and eating all the snacks in the house. Mom might not have been impressed, but to us it was a blast! Those were some of the most exciting moments of our lives, and every time we’re all together we laugh at memories. Being the middle child, I got away with a lot, so digging up a little trouble here and there was fun. However, it was always out of love, and we could always come together as family at the end of the day to giggle at our mistakes.

But the downside to always being busy playing or running around is that we hardly have any pictures together where we are actually sitting still. In all of the pictures we do have together, you can see the chaos in our expressions. And even though we’ve had our not-so-great moments, I wouldn’t give it up for the world. My siblings helped shape me into the person I am, and I will forever cherish the memories we have made together.