The Chain of Command

As mentioned in previous stories, I come from a family of seven. Yes, yes, we were brought up as Catholics’ – although I believe most of us have moved onto other denominations or non-denominations as the case may be.

In order to protect everyone’s identities and to save myself from a good verbal lashing, I will introduce my siblings in the following manner:

M – Oldest

S – 2nd oldest

K – 3rd oldest

J1 – Me!

J2 – Only brother

S – 6^th oldest

D – The Baby

So there listed are my brother and sisters. My mom was married twice in her lifetime. Her first marriage produced: M, S, K and J1. Her second marriage produced: J2, S, and D. I am a believer of birth order and its effect on your personality. The chart below shows the characteristics of birth order.

First	Middle	Last
Natural Leader	Flexible	Risk-taker
High Achiever	Easy-going	Outgoing
Organized	Social	Creative
On-time	Peacemakers	Self-centered
Know-it-all	Independent	Financially irresponsible
Bossy	Secretive	Competitive
Responsible	May feel life is unfair	Bored easily
Adult-pleaser	Strong negotiator	Likes to be pampered
Obeys the rules	Generous	Sense of humor

Here is where my perplexed life comes into play.

M being the oldest was mostly unknown to me when I was growing up, she had grown up moved out when I became cognitive of my surroundings.

For quite a long time I was the youngest! Spoiled, bratty, got all the good stuff. And then my brother was born and two more sisters. Now I become the invisible middle child. Meanwhile my older sisters, S and K, are growing up and moving on with their lives.

Then came a point when I realized I was now the oldest in the house. So in a few short years I was the youngest, the middle child and the oldest.

In my adult life I attribute my unusually odd professional behavior to these facts.

My indecisive-leadership qualities (oldest / middle)

My genuinely indifferent human resources skills (oldest / youngest)

My need of total project involvement watching from the outside. (middle/oldest)

So you young ones out there planning to start your families… take heed from my warning… you will be creating the next generation of ‘financial irresponsible, secretive, outgoing, organized, know-it-alls’… don’t we have enough of those?