As the semester came to an end the inevitable happened. Friends started moving back home for the summer and the few friends that stayed worked more doubles than I could personally handle. This literally made it impossible to actually find time to hang out. I live about 30 minutes away from my campus -- 20, if you're speeding -- and I regularly visited the campus and attended a few summer classes. It was officially a ghost town. I think the most excitement walking to class was watching the fat squirrels run around. I had accepted that this summer was about to be boring as hell.

I decided to fill my time, and my pockets, by working full time for my brother at a hardware store that he manages. My brother and I worked the same hours, spending about 36 hours a week working with each other, and spending, even more, time outside of work together. To some people, this sounds like a nightmare with a side of argument city and that's exactly what it sounded like to me. Here's the twist, it wasn't. Somehow, we had made it through a whole summer of this without one of us decapitating the other. No, we didn't turn into the perfect power sibling duo. We definitely still have plenty of arguments but the thing is that we don't hold on to them anymore. Call it maturity, call it magic, but whatever it works. Then, my brother and I reconnected with two of our cousins and got closer than we ever have been before. I had found the best friends I could ever ask for right within my family.

The fantastic thing about being best friends with a sibling is that nobody has known you longer or been in your life longer aside from your parents. You grow up together and go through happy and some not so happy times together. If you’re lucky enough that your parents are close with their siblings you also got to grow up with your cousins. Likely, you share your earliest memories with these people. Having so much history with people is a comforting feeling. When you get together you can always count on reminiscing on old memories and of course, someone will bring up a few inside jokes or embarrassing stories from when you were younger. Even though picking on each other is a favorite past time, everyone knows that if someone else tries to pick on you the family will be right there to back you up. This, unfortunately, excludes significant others that you bring around. The family will generally encourage them to pick on you and won’t hesitate to pull out embarrassing photo albums from your childhood.

In an article written by Jeffrey Kluger, he states that, “From the time they are born, our brothers and sisters are our collaborators and co-conspirators, our role models and cautionary tales. They are our scolds, protectors, goads, tormentors, playmates, counselors, sources of envy, objects of pride. They teach us how to resolve conflicts and how not to; how to conduct friendships and when to walk away from them.” Although he is talking about siblings I believe this stands for any person that you grew up with. The family provides for each other, it’s what they do. Within your family, you are also provided the foundation for some of the best friendships you will ever have. If you have drifted from a sibling or another family member that you once were close with send them a text or set up a time to meet. You don’t want to miss out on something this good.