“What? You have four sisters?”: What it’s like growing up in a family of five girls

By Aislinn Walsh
October 25, 2018

Being the oldest in a family of five girls, I’ve heard a wide range of comments from, “Wow, you guys practically have your own basketball team!” or “Are you guys part of a high school mission trip?”

Yes, there are five of us. And no, we don’t have any brothers.

I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.

When we were younger, we got pretty creative in ways to entertain each other, like having “drag” races with bikes on the street. We held competitions who could throw a tennis ball over the roof first, made movies and competed in soccer games against each other.
One time, we built teepees and had a cookout in our backyard, complete with a campfire.

As we got older, my dad started to enlist us to help him with projects around the house. Since there is an eight-year difference between my youngest sister and me, it made home repairs way easier. My dad now had four or five people working at once.

We got the jobs done pretty efficiently and learned so many home improvement skills.

We mowed the lawn, weed whacked, removed tree stumps, worked on plumbing, painted our living room, did demolition and the coolest project that we did was we re-roof the shed in our backyard. It took us several sweaty weekends but we got the job done and learned some valuable construction skills, like shingling.

During my senior year of high school, I was the only one who had a license so I frequently drove them to and from functions. Now for many, driving siblings around town seems like a chore. I honestly found it to be quite the opposite. In fact, some of my fondest memories of my senior year are from when I drove my sister around.

The annual first day of school picture. This year was extra special because four of us were in high school. Pictured left to right, Senior, Freshman, Freshman, Freshman, 4th grade. Photo by Mary Walsh.

We laughed until our stomachs hurt, vented to each other, shared frustrations over other drivers and argued over what we should name the car. It was quite a monumental day when we got ahold of an AUX cord. This meant that we could extend our kitchen dance parties into the car.

In Pennsylvania, newly licensed drivers receive a junior license before getting a senior license, which they typically receive upon turning 18. Under the junior license, you cannot take more than one non- family member in the car with you while driving alone.

We also joked about getting pulled over for having too many passengers in the car under a junior license. We couldn’t get in trouble because we were all family members and had we each had seat in the car.

There are still a few more years to go until all five of us can drive.

My sisters and I share an unbreakable bond. We have been best friends since day one. 
Photo by Ed Eckert.

Having a bunch of sisters was especially handy when traveling because we always packed the same things. So if one of us ever forgot something, like a jacket, there was a high probability that there was an extra jacket between the four other people.

Contrary to popular belief, we don’t fight over the bathroom or sit around and gossip about each other.

Although we’ve had our fair share of arguments, the bond between us is unbreakable.

We’ve become built-in best-friends. We’ve grown closer as we’ve progressed through the ups and downs of the middle school,  high school and college years together.

We are each other’s sounding board, supporter, confidant and comedian. I know that I can trust them to give me brutally honest feedback and support me when I am going through rough patches. I can’t imagine it any other way and I am so thankful to have my sisters in my life.

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Aislinn Walsh

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