When in high school, my sister and I were not all that close. She was 4 years younger and tended to push my buttons, steal my clothes, and when it came to our looks and personalities, we were polar opposites. I had a fair amount of fun, but I was more quiet, in the science/biomedical classes and read books in my free time. I was short, had dark curly hair, and dark eyes. She was an incredibly social being whose presence could be noted from almost anywhere in the school. She was tall, bleach-blonde hair, and blue eyes. When we were together, people assumed we were friends long before they ever guesses sisters. The only reason we really spent so much time together was because we both played golf and lacrosse together and I drove her everywhere. Sure, there was stuff that happened in high school that we were there for each other through, but it wasn't until I left for college that we started playing a much larger role in each other's lives.

When we were growing up, my sister always had this desire to push boundaries, while I was the more sheltered one. I analyzed every situation eight billion times and then made an educated decision or a planned a response out. My sister was the "go with the flow" person. We clashed constantly in high school because I was always on a schedule and that girl will be late to the alter on her wedding day and will miss her funeral as well. The girl with the plan was also the one driving the constantly rushed (aka late) one around. Now, I don't view it as quite so much of an irritant as I did before. Its funny because now sometimes I watch her and I realize that I take life way too seriously sometimes. I desperately wish I was more of a go with the flow type of person. I want her to run the show when we are together because who knows where we may end up or what we are going to do.

We also have similar medically oriented majors. I am struggling through pharmacy school and she is working through nursing school. We can talk science now and help each other out. She is also taking English literature classes, which I love (read books frequently remember?) and can help her get through a class she hates. She is also a college athlete, while my dreams of being an athlete ended once I got into pharmacy school. She helps me not put on weight and teaches me how to lift. She is way more athletic than I am.

We also talk almost 24/7 now. There is a constant stream of text messages between by sister and I at all time of the day about all sorts of things. As I have grown up, I have realized that there are some things you can only talk to your sister about. Hopefully venting to her about some of my stuff prevents her from making similar mistakes.

It took us 19 years, but we finally realized that although we can be polar opposites in some aspects, we complete each other well. We push each other to be better at the parts of the personality that we struggle with. We can hang out together in the summer and just talk for hours. We can learn so much from each other that we never really considered before. At one point in my life, my sister was just my sister, but now she has become one of my best friends as well.