Becoming an aunt
The Bear blog carnival post is How and when did you become a different person? Which is such a provoking prompt. Because becoming is happening to all of us all the time. To every thing.
One of the biggest parts of my identity is as an aunt. And it's something I had no control over. My siblings did not consult me on this. They just made me an aunt. Seven times! Then other people added associate niblings and I lose count. And go bankrupt over birthdays.
Of course one is an aunt just by children being born. One could technically be an aunt without even knowing. Something more active is required to be an aunt. And there are lots of different ways to be an aunt. Some people say to me, "It's great being an aunt because you can just give them back when they start crying" and I'm like... Can I?
So I became an aunt the first time I was told there was a baby coming. (But each time, too. I became an aunt again, with each of them, in new and different ways.) Then I became an aunt incontrovertibly when the first nibling was born. Then there was the first time I saw my niece, in the hospital - I was an aunt, yes, but here was the other side of the equation.
There was a moment though, fresh home from the hospital, when the full weight of what this all meant hit me and that was the moment I became an aunt.
I actively work at being an aunt. How to be a good person for these children. Which has helped me, too. Reading child development stuff, parenting books - there really ought to be 'raising children' books for people who aren't parents. Talking to my siblings about their parenting. Being an aunt has changed how I am a sister too. I feel very strongly about the village it takes to raise a child and how to better be a part of that.
I became an aunt, then I became an aunt. And as they grow up I'm becoming a new aunt every day.