I’m about fifteen years older than my sister. When she’s fifteen, I’ll be about thirty years old. Being so much older comes with a responsibility to be a positive influence. Whatever I do, she will most likely mimic. This has been an incredible learning experience for myself because she’s basically a tiny mirror of our family all put together.
Having a little sister is something many of us have in common. We know the good and annoying (there clearly aren’t any bad) qualities of a little sibling. They can be loud, obnoxious, and destructive with your belongings. They can make you realize what kind of temper has been hidden beneath you all that time when you were the youngest. I’m not going to talk about what rattles my nerves, because clearly the good trumps the not-so-good.
Seeing her excel in school at such a young age makes me want to excel in my own schooling. The things I have been bad at are the things she is amazing at. She makes me want to be better at everything that I do. I never knew what it was like to truly be proud of somebody until she came home with a perfect report card basically saying she was a little genius.
She makes me appreciate my life more than I did before she existed. Every time I see her, because I don’t get to see her often, she is 10 times more beautiful than the last time I saw her. Anytime I’m having a bad day, all I know is I need to hear her name and my day turns around.
Whenever I think of her growing up, I get unbelievably anxious. It’s hard to know she will struggle sometimes and that she will hurt. It’s hard to know that a boy might break her heart someday. It’s hard to know that she might come home crying because she gets picked on at school. It’s hard to know that she has to deal with the disturbing outside world she has no clue about yet.
But what truly makes me happy is that she has an amazing support system. There is nothing in this world she could ever do that could make me love her any less.
What I’m getting at is that my little sister taught me how to love a little bit harder. She opened up my imagination, softened my heart, and gave me the opportunity to grow. An opportunity that I wouldn’t have had if she was not here. She makes me want to try harder at the things I’m bad at, so maybe someday if she hits a tough spot she might look at me for advice and not immediately want to give up. She taught me how to forgive easier because accidents happen and it is never the end of your world.
To put it simply, she is the little puzzle piece of my life I never knew I was missing. I don’t think I could ever thank my father and my stepmother, and especially the Lord himself enough for giving me a piece of my heart that I will cherish forever.
