Yes, we didn’t have any brothers or sisters growing up and no, that doesn’t make us spoiled, lonely monsters. We’re just normal people who are good at talking to grown-ups and bad at sharing.

It does mean that we love a little differently, though:

1. We’re independent.

Surprise! Yeah, we’re used to doing things on our own, and we can take care of ourselves. We don’t need a big brother to hold our hand, and we’re perfectly comfortable striking out on our own. We’re never going to lose ourselves in a relationship, because we’re just too damn used to doing our own thing.

2. We’re mature beyond our years.

Do you even know how many adult functions we attended as children? We’re used to talking to adults, and we were pretty much treated like small adults from the time we started school. So even if we’re not the perfect grown-ups, we’re sure good at faking it.

3. We’re not used to teasing.

Why are you saying mean things to me and then laughing?? We didn’t grow up bickering with brothers and sisters, so we may not really *get* the whole teasing thing. Or we might try to make up for all that lost teasing from our childhoods, and want to tease and wrestle with you all the time.

4. We’re creative.

So many years talking to ourselves and to our imaginary friends means that we’ve developed quite the imagination. We’ve learned a thousand different ways to avoid boredom with only adults to talk to, so you’ll never have a dull day with us around.

5. We need space.

We’ve always had our own room, and we like our alone time. The idea of another person being all over our space and touching our stuff is a little weird and scary. We still love you, we just need to withdraw into our own little world every once in a while.

6. But once we open up, we’re all about affection.

We’re not all spoiled, but we are used to being the center of attention and focusing all our love on one or two people. So when we’re not taking our alone time, we’ll probably be all over you. And we’ll revel in any attention you give us. We’re just so excited not to be alone for once!

7. What is sharing?

Ok, we can share when it comes to the important stuff. But do NOT try to eat our fries or borrow our stuff without asking. We won’t understand what is happening, and we might attack if provoked.

8. We don’t like sharing people, either.

We’re not jealous harpies, but if we love you then we probably want you all for ourselves. We can be a little possessive and territorial when it comes to our people. But it’s only because we care! A lot!

9. Our friends are family.

We never had siblings, so our friends and partners are very important to us (yes, we are actually well-adjusted people with friends and social lives). We’ll want to add you to our little make-shift family, too.

10. We love hard.

We don’t have a big family, and it takes a lot for someone to make it into our inner circle. We only really trust a select few individuals. So if we love you, we go all in. We’re picky about the people we love, but once we’ve chosen you, we’ll love you with everything we’ve got.