Among all of the made up "National _____ Days" is the ever important, National Sibling Day.

Do we truly celebrate these 'National Whatever Days' ? No. But we acknowledge them on our social medias. And I truly think the most important one to acknowledge is National Sibling Day.

It's important to acknowledge this day because I know you've heard, 'As we get older we forget our parents are getting older, too'. Not only that, we forget our siblings are getting older too. Speaking as the oldest child with a younger brother who is only months away from graduating high school, you can really take for granted the time you have with them.

Before you know it, they're not really your 'little' brother anymore. They're 6'7, 19 years old, growing facial hair faster than some 40 year olds and driving off to college every morning in their new car. You find yourself wondering,

"Where did time go?" Well.. While I was busy getting older.. So was my brother. And he's grown up into an amazing young man. He surpasses my expectations each and every day as a brother and especially as an Uncle. God truly blessed me with the best.

He also blessed me with the best cousins. If you're like me and you grew up with your cousins only a few minutes down the road, you can probably relate to the following 5 reasons your cousins might actually be your siblings;

1. They were your first best friends;

And as you get older you realize, you've known the definition of true friends all along. It's your cousins. They don't judge you, they're always there to listen and they're always the first to clinch their fist and bite their lips when someone does you wrong. They'd give anything to see you happy. So you don't really have to learn the definition of true friends because you've had true friends all of your life. True friends that really have YOUR best interest at heart.

2. They've seen you at your worst, and they'll still never judge you;

My cousins have seen me at my absolute worst. Bed ridden in the Burn & Wound ICU, doped up on pain pills to rid me of the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. (I'd tell you to google brown recluse bite, but you probably don't want to see the pictures. Especially if you just ate breakfast) I was barely able to walk and had just found out my life was going to change in the biggest way. But they weren't afraid to come straight to the ICU and see me. They sat right next to me, literally, and figuratively stood right next to me throughout the next few crazy months embracing the big life changes that were coming our way.

When your cousins are your best friends, when your cousins are your siblings, you're never truly alone.

3. You fight like siblings;

If you've been close with your cousins your whole life.. You can probably count on both hands how many times you've been in a fight, but you always make up. They've never been significant, but you really know how to get to one another.

This is because you know each other probably better than you know yourselves.

4. They are an unwavering support system;

Some people hardly talk to their cousins. But if your cousins are more like your siblings, you probably talk all the time. You text, Snapchat, Facebook, Tweet, creepishly drive past each others houses (Yes, Brielle and I used to do this all the time) No matter when you call, they're always there. And they're your biggest cheerleaders.

They always have faith in your abilities and they always remind you of what you can do, rather than what you can't.

5. You stick together like glue at family gatherings;

I am blessed with a big, loving family. It's never boring when our family gets together, but you still out of habit, go right to your cousins. You can joke with them about things you might not be able to joke with Grandparents about. You can tell them the latest gossip from the night before that your Aunts or Uncles might not necessarily care about. But you know your cousins will always be ready to hear the newest juicy info on some rando on your News Feed.

While I technically only have one younger brother; really I'm blessed with two younger brothers and a younger sister.

My cousins and my brother were the first kids I ever babysat. And I babysat them quite often. But it never felt like babysitting. It felt like I was getting paid to just hang out with my siblings. We established our own group of 4 family traditions together and made our own group of 4 family memories. Some of which unfortunately are caught on tape, but we'll save those for a rainy day. (Or not, they're mostly a bunch of horrible, and I mean HORRIBLE, Disney sing-a-longs).

This is my Happy National Siblings Day to you, Brielle and Trace.

I hope you know, that no matter where life takes us, I will always be there. Watching you two grow up into an amazing young man and an incredible young woman has been a blessing for me.

No matter where you go, or what you go on to do, I will always be proud of you. I will always beam with pride when I talk about my cousins.

I love you both so much and I hope you never forget I'm always ready to be your shoulder to cry on, ear to listen or whatever it is that you need.. I'm always here.

I'm proud of you both and no matter what, I always will be. I love you more than you know, and I want to thank you for being more than just cousins.

Thank you for being another younger brother, my first younger sister, and my first best friends.