Siblings are your first friends. They have known you since the day you were born. They find their way into a special place in your heart, even if sometimes they drive you nuts.
Can you remember playing in the sand box? Or pushing them on the swing set? What about throwing the remote at each other when you argued over what to watch? These are memories to cherish forever.
Growing up with a sibling is one of the most rewarding parts of life. If they are older, you have a role model. If they are younger, you are in a position to be a role model for them. All of your life you imagine how it would feel when you graduate, and you forget the goosebumps you would get watching your sibling take the walk across the stage and their lives change forever.
I watched my older sister graduate with two degrees from Michigan State University. I thought I would just watch it happen, even though my eyes were practically crusted shut having sat in the sweaty arena for hours. I planned to cheer and clap for her. I never knew I was going to sob like a baby when they need a diaper change.
All at once, visions of Barbie dolls and stuffed animals popped into my head. Visions of fighting, then making up. Visions of laughing until we cried. It all happened so fast, like I could still bring out my favorite Barbie to play with and my sister would tell me her Barbie's were prettier. But, instead of playing with dolls, my sister is playing with the two degrees she just earned, to see what career paths she can take. My big sister moved up in this world. And I had the privilege of watching it happen.
We focus so much on our own schooling and what we are doing in our own lives that we forget to acknowledge all of the accomplishments of our siblings. They move away to their school of choice and they take their lives into their own hands. They made you and your family proud.
And all of that came together the day you arrived at their graduation. Seeing them in their robes and cords, their hats and fancy outfits underneath. They think graduating was surreal for them, but for us, the siblings, it was like a dream.
I can only hope to make the strides in this world that my sister has, she sets such great examples for me and her best example yet was graduating from Michigan State.
Our siblings are the only friends we will have until the end, and we should celebrate them and their achievements. (Not just because our parents make us).
The pride and admiration I have in my graduated sister is immense, but she better be in the audience and sit through the two hour long ceremony when I graduate from college, too, or I'm telling mom.
