"My sister and I (both in our 30s) are very different. She's brilliant, accomplished, and a high earner. She has a loving husband who earns even more, and three wonderful children who I adore. I'm fairly smart too, but I was born with a medical condition that has prevented me from starting a family or achieving a similar level of success as my sister. That said, I have a comfortable salary, and I love being an aunt to her kids."
"They have always been concerned with treating us "fairly" despite our differences in health, ability, and circumstances. For example: If my parents and I ever go out for dinner without my sister and they pay the bill, they will give her cash in the amount they spent on me. But the way they determine "fairness" is not always equal-they have college funds for my niblings that they contribute to monthly, but as I don't have children, I don't receive that amount."
Two adult sisters in their 30s have very different lives: one is a high earner with a spouse and three children, while the other has a medical condition that prevented starting a family but maintains a comfortable salary and values being an aunt. Parents provide financial support despite limited means, but impose unusual rules aimed at "fairness." Parents equalize some shared expenses by transferring equivalent cash to the sibling with children, yet fund college accounts for grandchildren that the childless sibling does not access. Parents previously gave both daughters down-payment gifts; housing values later diverged, producing unequal outcomes.
Read at Slate Magazine
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