Guest Post from Riley: The Youngest

I first read Riley’s blog, All Rileyed Up, a bazillion years ago.  Okay really two years ago, but that’s what it feels like in blog time.  The first post I ever read of hers was this send-up of a Rolling Stones cover band.  Over the years she has made me laugh, groan and sympathize.  Like me, she probably  loves Magic Eraser a little too much.  She took a few months off to work on a novel (that I hope I get to buy someday), and one of her first posts when she came back to the blog was this beauty, which has been one of favorites ever since.  When I asked her to guest post for me, she offered this celebration of being the fourth and final child.

I’m thrilled to guest post over here at Toddled Dredge, who is not only one of my favorite blogs, but also just gave birth to my kindred sibling-order spirit: the youngest of four.

My sister was six years older than me, my brothers, five and three years older, respectively. There are many things that most baby of the families can relate to—the lack of a detailed baby book, hand me down clothing, never winning at Monopoly, being the last in line of a roll call of names (oftentimes, my mom would call me by the dog’s name before getting to mine; and just last week, she referred to me by my sister’s name no less than three times). There’s no need to go on about being the youngest because if you are the youngest, you know what I’m talking about, and if you’re not the youngest, you probably only think this: the youngest gets away with E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.

Do either of the phrases below sound familiar?
“You let her do everything!”
“You never let me do that when I was her age!”

All I can say to my older siblings is this: thanks for paving the way for my lunacy. I feel for how hard you had it, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t reap the benefits of you breaking Mom and Dad in for me. If it hadn’t been for you guys, I might never have been allowed the later curfew, the higher allowance, and the car you never had. (Special props to my brother for piercing his ear with an alligator tooth and coming home with orange hair. What was I ever going to do to top that?*)

It was also fun being the youngest because my brothers and sister let me tag along on their outings. I went to college parties and concerts long before my friends did due to the fact that my brother or sister would be there as chaperone. The best example I have of this is my first visit to a dance club: Einstein A-Go-Go.
Einstein’s was an all-ages dance club in Jax Beach, FL. You could dance all night, then cool off on the beach sand with the ocean breeze blowing through your sweaty hair. It was peopled mainly with high-schoolers, though there were some older patrons. Einstein’s played music like Royal Crescent Mob, Fugazi, They Might Be Giants, and Material Issue (I used to LOVE them). My brother and sister went there all the time.

When I was in seventh grade, I found out that Aleka’s Attic was scheduled to do a show at Einstein’s.  Gasp and double gasp.  Aleka’s Attic was River Phoenix’s band, and in seventh grade, I had a major school girl crush on him (a girl never forgets her first). Boy howdy, did I want to see this show (I know what you’re thinking, and I too can’t believe I just wrote the words ‘boy howdy’). I asked my parents if I could go and they said the magic words: “Only if your sister goes with you.”

And to this day, I thank her for saying yes.

She advised me on clothing, drove me to the show, and let me hang out with her and her friend, Monica. The entire experience was much more fulfilling than the show, which was pretty good in its own right, although River didn’t look so hot. I think it was something to do with the button-up shirt (in retrospect, I guess it might also have been heavy drug use. So sad.). The next day, my friends were dying for all the details and for at least a good fifteen minutes, I was the center of attention during the post-lunch recess (which we all know was oh-so important).

So, to little Toddled Dredge, I hope you know that with Jelly Bean, Sweet Pea, and Poppy Seed looking out for you, chances are you will never go astray (unless they encourage it, and/or do it first). Cheers to being the youngest! It’s as fun as all the older siblings believe it to be.

(And in case anyone is wondering, I maintain a good relationship with all of my siblings.)

*Orange-haired alligator-tooth-piercing sibling is now an electrical engineer who works with NASA. Don’t you feel safe about whose hands our space program is in?

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