To this date, one of the biggest transitions of my life has been moving my sister into grad school and hence living far away from her. She is my best friend, and we've grown up doing everything together. From sharing clothes, to friends, to even sharing birthdays, my sister and I have been each other's number one fans since day one. These are a few struggles we have experienced living far apart from each other, and this list is by no means exhaustive.
1. Your closet gets cut in half
As sisters, the first thing we do when we get ready is look in each other's closet to see if there is anything good to wear. There is no point in searching our own closet, because chances are our sister has something better. When I moved my sister up to Philadelphia, I wasn't just left with a broken heart, but also a broken closet. It feels insanely abnormal to pick out my own outfit and not have the opportunity to peruse through her clothes. However, I am comforted by the fact that I have kept some of her clothes with me that she doesn't know about...until now.
2. No more late night binge eating and movie watching
Some of the most memorable moments with my sister were made in the most simplistic way- digging into a tub of ice cream and watching movies all night long. These moments, though seemingly mundane, were actually some of the best nights of my life. There is nothing like cozying up on your couch and bonding over a movie. Now that my sister lives so far away, we rarely get the chance to do this. Next time I go up to visit her, I know she will have a tub of Ben&Jerry's and all ten seasons of Friends waiting for us.
3. If you live in different time zones, Facetiming is almost impossible
When my sister was living in Barcelona, finding the perfect time to Facetime was pretty much impossible. With her being six hours ahead, and me not being available until late in the evening, our Facetime usage got cut down to a minimal. The best surprises would be when I received an unexpected Facetime call from her and could actually pick up.
4. Suddenly, it's a lot harder to talk about your boy problems
We all know that our sisters are the first ones we run to with our boy problems. Having an argument with your boyfriend? No worries, your sister is there to craft a brilliantly worded response. Need advice on how to respond to your crush? Once again, have no fear, your sister will draft the perfect response. Unfortunately, with her living so far away, it's not so easy to ask for advice. Whereas her advice used to be instantaneous upon request, it may now take a few hours or even days for her to respond.
5. No more barging in her room and annoying the crap out of her
As the younger sibling, I've always had a penchant for annoying my big sister. I get a kick out of messing with her and disrupting her routine, as any younger sibling naturally would. And yes, I'm 19 but I still haven't grown out of this and highly doubt that I ever will. That being said, I still find my way to annoy my sister even though she lives far away. At least this way neither of us will ever get bored.
6. No more getting ready together
One of the best ways for sisters to bond is to get ready together. We may fight over hogging the mirror and stealing each other's makeup, but we both know that we have so much fun getting ready together. Also, sisters will give it to you straight. If your eyebrows aren't so much on fleek, she'll make you very aware of that. This way, you know you won't ever leave the house looking anything other than your best.
7. No more blaming her for your own mistakes
Whenever I used to get in trouble, I would usually get away with it by blaming my older sister. The words "She did it, not me!" were a very consistent part of my vocabulary. Now that she's gone, it makes it extremely difficult for me to blame her. I guess we all have to grow up at some point, even though I often still try to blame her through my clandestine ways.
8. No more having an accomplice to your master plans
When sisters live together, they inevitably devise master plans on the daily. High school was the time for sneaking boys into the house, throwing parties when our parents were out of town, and all of the like (sorry dad). None of these things would have been possible without my sister's help. We would spend multiple nights devising sneak in and sneak out routes, and we always covered for each other. This is what sisterhood is all about. Unfortunately, being thousands of miles apart makes it hard to come up with these plans. This, however, does not mean that we have lost our sneaky abilities. Put us in the same house and we're back to our good old surreptitious ways.
For anyone who has a sister, make sure you cherish her and value each moment you spend together. One day, you may not be in close proximity, and only then will you realize all the little things that were taken for granted. To my big sis, love you forever and always xx
