You're adopted!

I am the youngest from a fairly large family of 5, common in the time i was growing up, not so common now.  When i was little it was known that i was the second oldest sisters (protege, plaything, one to tease and help raise).  The oldest sister had the second youngest, my sister who was 3 years older.  I think the oldest sister got first choice, and because Marg was born first and would always be a little older and wiser, I think the second oldest sister always felt a little dudded by me and was probably sick of always coming second to the oldest sister.

 At times it was fun to be pitted against each other and we both seemed to bond to our respected older sisters.  I think the 2 oldest had fun keeping tabs on who was doing the better with their protege.  When it got a little more serious, the oldest sister would try to undermine the second oldest sister by saying things to me, like, "you're adopted".  Which i would reply in my kid like voice. "Na, I'm not", "you are!" or something like.  She would persevere and say other things like "you look nothing like the rest of us, you must be adopted".  And "you have freckles and none of us have" or "you burn and none of us burn, we all go brown".  My assigned sister would always stick up for me and I did bond more with her over the years and liked her rebellious streak and how she would always say what was on her mind.

I remember it being hurtful at the time and the scars i guess are still there, which is weird as it was all meant to be fun and games. It might not have been often that these things were even necessarily said, but it's funny how it doesn't take much when you are young, to believe what you hear and start to question yourself, even when faced with these blatant falsehoods.

Do the sisters still keep tabs on us, now that we have we all grown up and are now in middle age.  I am not sure, but I doubt it. Who won overall, again not sure, just glad that none of us were killed or maimed in the process. In one game of tie ups Margaret accidentally knocked her head and went unconscious and had to be rushed to hospital.  In another game gone wrong in the pool, either my brother or sister knocked their head on the side of the pool and were lying face down in the water for a while.  At first i think we all must have thought they were joking, but after a short period, I wasn't so sure and grabbed them out and realized straight away that they were limp.  Luckily enough they came too straight away and recovered with just a bruise on their head.