Growing up the baby of the family definitely has its perks. If you ask my siblings, they say I’m spoiled. They’re right. I may be spoiled a little bit by mom and dad, but I’m mostly spoiled because I have them as my siblings. Little did I know how grateful I would be for the people who used to bribe me into putting their clothes away and going to grab them food from the kitchen.

So, Dear Siblings,

Thank you.

Thank you for being the best role models I could have had. (Okay, not always, but pretty close) You guys taught me so many valuable life lessons that I will carry with me forever. Aside from the life lessons, you taught me what mom and dad don’t like, and I knew exactly what I had to do/not do to be the perfect angel of the family.

Thank you for creating a name for our family at our school. Throughout my childhood I was continuously referenced as “so and so’s sister”. At the time, I thought I hated it- but now that I’m older, I came to the realization that I loved being known as your younger sibling (whether it be good or bad). There were so many times that a teacher, parent or community member would look at me and say “wow, another one of you?”, “how many of you are there?”, “you look JUST like your older sibling!”, or “Okay, I had your sibling this many years ago and now I just feel old!”

Thank you for threatening anyone who tried to do me wrong, or at least consider threatening them. As embarrassing as it is to have you ask a boy what his intentions are with me, it truly means a lot to know that you guys care so much about who I am with.

Thank you for always being proud of me. It always seemed like when I would be on cloud 9 with excitement, you guys would be one step higher and that much more excited for me. When it came to my first home run, high school graduation, college acceptance, you were all there cheering as loud as you could. Even on the days when things weren’t going that well, you were still the proudest bunch in the whole group.

Thank you for being there for me when no one else is. With all of the dumb high school drama, fights with mom and dad or even a fight with one of you, I know I’ll always have someone there for me every step of the way with you as my siblings. Growing up with you guys as my siblings was more like growing up with your best friends and having them there every step of the way.

As I grow older, I just become more and more thankful to have people like you in my life. Although we are family, we each have different personalities and you have shaped me into who I am today. Thank you for the scars, the laughs and the memories.