Responsibilities. Responsibilities. Responsibilities!

That’s the only single word that can define being the eldest sister in the family. Hundreds of grueling responsibilities over the house, the family, the siblings and even the simplest things like food choices, household chores, homeworks and projects of the younger siblings.

I remember one time when my parents attended a certain gathering in Manila and they were off the whole night! You can’t imagine the horror visible in my face when my mother told me the dreadful news of their departure. They left in the afternoon and promised me to come back at the morning of the next day. I was perplexed. How can I survive a day with my younger brother and sister?

My brother was 5 years old while my sister was 12 at that time. In the night, my brother cried for half an hour because he wanted to eat eggs, but our only cooked food was rice and corned beef. I wanted to cry also because I felt tired and his cry was so irritating. Just to make him stop crying, I cooked an egg, but unfortunately, it was overcooked. My spoiled brother refused to eat the egg and he didn’t eat anything the whole night.

I washed the dishes thinking of my parents having fun while I feel so exhausted. How pathetic I am. When I was about to do my assignment, my sister came knocking on the door of my room. She wanted me to do her homework! I told her that she needed to do her own assignment, but she said that I am not a kind sister. I was shocked so I did her homework out of screaming annoyance. I finished her assignment at 10 in the evening and I haven’t done my very own homework yet.
I finally finished it at ten thirty when I discovered my brother playing his game boy instead of sleeping. Out of fatigue and exhaustion, I shouted him stingy words. He cried again because of my sarcasm. My sister was angry at me for my behavior toward my brother. Everything was a disaster.
Silent tears were streaming in my eyes before I slept that night. I was thinking: what went wrong? Why are they like that? I am a total wreck and a failure.
The next morning, I decided to cook eggs and hotdogs for our breakfast. The eggs were fair – cooked so I received a smile from my brother. Yes! My sister was in the good mood that morning. Another yes! Everything was perfect, we were laughing and story – telling until my parents arrived. Yippee!
That was when I realized that being a sister requires patience and persistence. It needs constant willpower to accomplish all of your responsibilities. Yes, it is a complicated job that only a responsible and mature person can perform, but it also provides that person the unconditional feeling of happiness out of tiredness.