I’m a middle child. That means that I am not quite the oldest and I am certainly not the youngest, and well… it’s complicated.

I think middle children always feels like they have something to prove. I can use myself for example and highlight the fact that I play by my own rules and I get away with it; most of the time. I’ve always attested that to me being the middle child and no one having the desire to make me upset or  further “shake things up”.  Allow me to share how I believe siblings inspire success.

My oldest brother Richard “Ricky” Carter is the first born child. He has always been confident, athletic and compassionate. He will give you the shirt off of his back if he had to. He’s also a hard worker, so he will have another shirt in a matter of minutes. He is very charming, handsome, funny and he knows it. He has leveraged his personality in ways I’ve always admired and I took notes as a kid.  Ricky is the type of person you love at first sight. He has warm brown eyes that had him singing the song Pretty Brown Eyes by Mint Condition in the mirror when were were young. (Yep, bro: I said it!) He was a pretty boy athlete and for the longest time and I was known as “Ricky’s little sister”. Our mother passed 1993, when Ricky was 13, I was 9 and our baby brother Irvin was only 3. Then life got interesting.

Without going into full details, Ricky grew up to believe that he had to be a father figure to Irvin and I and until this day he is one of our best friends. I can count on him, day or night and he NEVER complains about a thing. He simply shows up! Witnessing him as a father, son, grandson, friend, frat brother (man of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, incorporated.), husband of the beautiful Ebony Carter, has truly
been a treat! I can go on and on. The point is: He is a great man with great intentions and he always goes after what he wants, even if there is a huge chance that he may fail. I’ve witnessed his highs and lows, and he always comes out on top. In fact, today is his 40th birthday. He will be skydiving this weekend, so he will really get to experience a BIG DROP! I can’t wait to see the video.

Happy Birthday, Ricky!!!

My older brother inspires me, because he paves the way. I’ve done alot of things in life because I got to bear witness to him doing it first. Older siblings sometimes feel the need to be the “parents” of the siblings and many of them play their part. My brother has played that role for myself and Irvin in so many ways; whether we liked it or not and I am grateful for him. I’m sure many of us have older siblings that we are grateful for. If not, you may be missing out. Then again, maybe being an only child isn’t so bad. I’ll have to ask my 15 year old son, Anius, since he’s mine.

Contrary to most middle children’s ” LOOK AT ME” attitude, today is about my brother: Richard Carter!
For his birthday, I wanted to write this post to give him a little SEO action and surprise him in a way that no one else would.
Seeing that he is the oldest of 3, he has truly done a great job at being the oldest child. I admire him and wish him nothing but success in this lifetime. However, as a middle child who wanted to make a name for herself, I want him to be “Serita Love’s brother” now. Haha!
Love ya Bro!  (Look, I totally behave like a middle child).

As a middle child who is not quite the oldest or youngest, I played the role of being the liasion to so much in my life. I’m the connector in so many settings. Maybe that’s a middle child thing. Being in between two brothers, I became a “girly tomboy”. I was the little girl who would hop the park fences in a fluffy dress. Just because I wanted to be a rebel and hang with the boys.

Middle children are typically great at conflict management. I think this makes them great business people. I’ve always had the desire to liase between businesses and people I networked with and I believe it started with being the middle sibling between my brothers. If you’re a middle child, understand that you have a huge responsibility being in between your siblings. You’re the one who can start a fight or end them. You’re the one to convince one to apologize to the other.  You’re the one your siblings may look up to, because you just might challenge the status quo. You will never be the youngest, nor the oldest. You just may be the boldest. I can tell you this, because I think this is why my brothers inspired my ambition for success.

Now, although today is Ricky’s birthday, let me tell you about my youngest brother, Irvin Love. Irvin is the baby of the bunch and when our mother was alive, she spoiled him rotten! As a baby, our mother loved him closely til no end. Irvin could do no wrong in our mother’s eyes. Not even during “terrible two’s”. Fast forward, Irvin is a great father, a hard worker, smart, funny and loyal. Irvin will say what is on his mind without holding back, and THAT inspires me! He reminds me so much of our father (may he rest) and his love for fatherhood is reflective of what we got to witness with our dad and his love for us. Although Irvin was the youngest of the three children our mother birthed, he doesn’t act like a baby. He makes sound decisions, owns up to his mistakes and helps anyone he can if he is capable of doing so. Who said the baby of the family has to always be a brat? Naaaaa, not my brother. He’s a soldier! He’s very talented with electronics and tech gadgets and has amazed me since he was a little kid. Oh, and he loooooves cars! He created his own bike sound system from scraps in the alley when he was around 10 years old. I just KNEW he’d grow up to be some sort of engineer. It’s not too late, Irv!

I must say that although this article was meant to be a birthday post for my oldest brother, I truly want to know how others feel about how siblings inspire success of one another. My brothers and I root eachother on, and I think that keeps us moving forward. I love it!

This leads me to wonder:

If you have a sibling or siblings, how do he/she/they inspire YOU to succeed?