It’s supposed to be the middle child:
My Dad’s family:
His older sister married last, married a man who already had two children, she eventually divorced him because he was having an affair She never had children of her own. Before marriage, she was the coolest, funniest and most beautiful of the aunts, though they were all very attractive. She is the clear black sheep.
My Dad was the only son and treated a bit like a prince by his mom and sisters, a bit rebellious, joined the US Air Force, got married, stayed married and had 4 children.
His next younger sister went to college to be a school teacher, married another school teacher, who went into advertising, had 3 children and is still married.
The youngest daughter became an RN, married an executive at Boing, had 2 children and was eventually widowed.
The Aunt with 3 children: The only one with a middle child.
Her oldest went to Washington DC after college and did some political thing, had been an expat in Hong Kong, got a masters in something and never really had a career. Luckily he married a woman who was a big-deal at a dot com and they’ve done well and have a couple of kids. He is the black sheep
The middle child is my age (and I kind of married late), but he got married 5 years after me. He and his wife have one child and he’s had a steady career as a self-employed event organizer
The youngest of that group married first, is still married to a successful tech executive and they have 3 children.
My cohort:
Older brother dropped out of college, kicked-around for a few years doing seasonal work before getting steady employment, married an older woman who already had 2 children, the youngest was maybe 15 when they got married. He never had children of his own, but stayed married until his wife passed away. Just that, maybe wouldn’t give him full black sheep status, but he also doesn’t really travel, visit, write or come to any weddings (except our little sister). He is the black sheep.
Older sister: She went to college, graduated and then signed on to some active-duty time (she was in the Air Guard since HS graduation) She met her husband-to-be while on active duty. They had two children and eventually divorced. She worked steadily at Boing and did a solid job at single parenting. As the only divorce in the family, it’s tempting to give her BSS (Black Sheep Status) but she visits, calls, writes and participates in family events, so no BSS even though there are allowed to be more than one, IMHO.
Me: I almost qualify. I went into the Marine reserves while both parents and 2 older siblings had all been Air Force. I switched from ME to Philosophy as a junior in college, after graduation, went to Sun Valley to work in housekeeping and save up to go back and get a degree that I could earn a living at. When I went back and got my BS in Biology, I met and married a woman getting her MS in Biochemistry. She is also ethnically distant from me, so I am accumulating lots of black sheep credentials. But since marriage we’ve had a very conventional life: 3 kids, all went to college and graduated, have both worked steadily for 30 years and still married. We have a good attendance record for marriages and funerals and are engaged well, with both sides of the families.
Younger sister: The least black sheep of all. The only thing she did differently is to not join the military, but she married into a military family—three generations of West Point graduates! She became a nurse, had 3 kids all well adjusted, married a successful businessman and are still married.
Long-time family friends: The father in this family was an across-the-street neighbor of my dad when he was a kid. They had a lifetime friendship and we would often visit them, whenever we were in that part of the state. As well, they came and visited us. The dad was a lawyer who had been in the Army, worked in the Johnson administration and for the Army Corps of Engineers. The mom was an RN who had also been in the Army and continued in some sort of high up nurse management role. Their youngest was the age of my older brother and their oldest made our home into a weekend getaway when he was in college and grad school, since his home was 6-hours away and ours was but 90 minutes. Many weekends in the winter, he would come up and go skiing with us—he’d sometimes bring a college friend or two. We probably spent more time with this family than with the family of any relative. Enough background, who of their 3 kids were black sheep.
The oldest was a really great skier, though always a bit pudgy. He got his masters in ME but didn’t do much engineering—he ended up being a commercial diver. He got married and stayed married but never had any children. I give him solid black sheep status.
Their daughter: She was either middle or oldest. We saw less of her than the other two, so we knew less about her. She was very smart, pretty, strong political views (heterodox I think) and like all of them very witty with a strong personality. She was married first, had some kids, got divorced, got re-married, maybe had one or two more kids. She took raising children very seriously and for then, this made her eccentric. I give her black sheep status.
Their youngest: And also probably the smartest of the bunch and they were all scary-smart. He was also talented at every sport and had a good shot at making the hockey team at Notre Dame, which he dropped out of. He kicked-around a couple of years and then got a BS in Physics at UPS and followed up with a Ph.D. from MIT in Nuclear Physics. Meanwhile he met his future wife by tutoring her in math while she was pre-med. She got her MD at Harvard and he followed her to her residency in NH. Around this time he began coaching women’s volleyball and that has been his career ever since. He is still married and they have two children. I give him black sheep status
For blood relatives, it’s been the oldest who were black sheep, though for my siblings it’s somewhat of a close-call between the oldest three. For the super smart, physically talented family, they were all unorthodox, each in their own ways.