Chapter 3 - Jenna Had Always Been the Sibling Who Needed More Help
Jenna was three years younger than me.
Our parents, Harold and Nancy Mercer, did not love her more.
They worried about her more.
That distinction created almost the same result.
I was the easy child.
Good grades.
Summer jobs.
College scholarship.
I worked ten years in our father’s regional packaging company before leaving to build my own software business.
Jenna bounced through:
college majors,
jobs,
relationships.
Not because she was stupid.
She was creative.
Excellent with people.
Terrible with:
routine,
money,
delayed gratification.
She became an event producer.
Good years were:
very good.
Bad years were:
disastrous.
Our parents developed a family habit.
When Daryl had a problem:
“He’ll figure it out.”
When Jenna had a problem:
“What can we do?”
I resented that when I was younger.
Then became part of it as an adult.
Car repair?
I paid.
Security deposit after a breakup?
I paid.
Credit card consolidation?
Dad paid half.
I covered half.
When Jenna’s destination-wedding business nearly collapsed during the pandemic, I advanced:
$42,000.
No written loan.
She repaid:
$8,000.
Then business recovered and somehow we stopped discussing the rest.
Why?
Because I did not need:
the money.
May you like
That phrase destroys more family boundaries than almost anything else.
---
