That’s the curse of being the eldest, especially by eight and ten years: you have to carry the weight of your younger siblings’ problems, as well as your own. They come to you for a reason. You don’t want to shelter them, but you do want to protect them. You want to protect them from the confusion and the pain, so you carry theirs and yours. Only, nobody knows you have your own confusion and pain. Nobody knows you’re hurting at all.
