The Half Life of Siblings

“I also have three half-siblings on my mum’s side, who I grew up with. I remember telling a story about my brother in school when I was eight and the teacher said, ‘Now tell the truth, he’s not your brother, he’s just your half-brother.’ I was really shocked. It had never occurred to me that my relationship with them was ‘just’ anything.”

- from the Guardian

People often say this to me about my (half) brothers, as well as the (half) sister I recently discovered I have. But I recoil at the word “half.” It feels dishonest and downright dirty. But once people learn about my (half) brothers and sister, they demand that I define the relationship a certain way. I find it too exhausting to try and explain my connection to a (half) sister I never met, or a (half) brother who died from a heart attack 18 years after the last time I saw him, or another (half) brother I rarely see. So I catch myself using the word half and feeling like a liar the whole time. Sometimes, I wonder if my (half) siblings feel the same way. Maybe they prefer to keep me at arm’s length. Hell, maybe they would even call me a “fourth” sister. I do know that my older (half) brother calls me “little sister,” so I suspect he feels like I do.

Maybe I only eschew the term “half” because I yearn for a closer relationship with my (half) siblings.

Do you have (half) siblings? How do you feel about the term “half?” Does it ring true to you?