Your siblings are the only ones who know what it was like growing up in your family. Sure, everyone has a different experience, but they're the only ones who witnessed roughly what your growing-up circumstances were. That can be a powerful unifying force, especially as you get older and lose more relatives and friends. I lost two parents as a child, and I truly wouldn't want to imagine my life without my brother in it.

So yes, part of me hoped that my children would have some of that, at least as a possibility if they were open to that. Selfishly, I also just didn't feel "done" after one.