There are a lot of conflicting views on which is better, having an older sibling or a younger one. I'm sure both of them have their perks but I will say this, I would not be the person I am today without having had an older sister.

My sister and I are a seven-year spread which is pretty drastic. To put it in perspective, her freshman year of college was my sixth-grade year. That age gap meant that I had a sibling to model every stage of life that lied before me. When she was in middle school I would sit behind her watching the computer while she wrote to her friends on AIM, thinking about what important things they were discussing, even if it was just how dumb so-and-so's outfit was at school that day.

In sixth grade, I thought having an older sister in college was about the coolest thing ever. Most of my friends only had younger sisters so I would roll up to school with my iPod touch some days and show off a current Facebook post of hers where she was all dressed up and collegiate looking.

I always had someone to do my hair and makeup for dances which was the best. My sister has great style so I never had to ask someone else's sister or mom with shaky at best makeup skills to work on me right before the big night. Definitely a plus there.

And now that I am well into college the playing field has kind of level for the first time while growing up and it is nice to be able to lend advice as well as receive it. We can toast together at family events now, work together on planning surprises or gifts for our parents, and send each other funny posts on social media.

It's so fun to have her come back to KU and relive her college days alongside of mine now and it's fun to see that I've made it to where I used to look up to. So a big thanks to my sister for always giving me something to look forward to and a lot of help along the way.