By Terra Avilla
Middle kids really get the short end of the stick in family stories. If the oldest is blazing the trail and the youngest is ruling the kingdom (probably in pajamas), the middle child is what happens when parents think, “Yeah, let’s see what happens if we loosen the training wheels maybe take a nap in the middle.”
There are endless memes about us disappearing into the background, quietly haunting the couch until someone needs a snack deal brokered, or a meltdown diffused, over a broken crayon. But honestly? Middles keep the whole circus moving.
A while ago on my social media I wrote about how I was scrolling through old snapshots, chasing memories from last summer. I paused on a photo I’d almost forgotten… my middle daughter, Pearl.
It feels like a perfect Lassen County story… sometimes life in the middle slips quietly by, while the big milestones and the last and firsts steal the show.
That’s how it goes. Pearl isn’t the first to do anything, and she wasn’t the last I carried in my arms. Her baby book pages run thin, the breathless excitement of “firsts” has mellowed, and somewhere, between what’s new and what’s already been done.
But then I see her in this photo… twirling, half-grinning, never pausing long enough for the classic pose. That’s Pearl quick-witted, full of sass, and always exactly where she means to be, even if we forget to notice for a moment.
Middle kids have their own kind of strength. Maybe it’s something about life here, or just the way they navigate between older and younger, learning how to get by and stand out all at once. Maybe that’s Pearl’s Lassen County spirit quietly steady, surprisingly bold.
Maybe I’m a bit partial as a middle child myself but… we ARE the invisible duct tape… sneaky creatives, expert negotiators and absolute pros at popping up with a perfect punchline just when everyone forgot we were even in the room.
Lassen County is full of middle-children running businesses, serving on boards, coaching, sports, teaching in the classrooms.
So, to all the middle children out there – I do see you, and you all are one of the reasons I love where we live.
