I was born on November 29th, 1994 (if you believe such things, that makes me a Sagittarius). When my parents brought my premature self back from the hospital to my older sister Danielle, she wanted them to, "Take me back to the store." Obviously, child bearing does not work that way, so when she was told no, Dani was cross. so to speak. She proceeded to take a pair of manicure scissors and carved up Mom and Dad's night stand, and so began the wonders of sibling rivalry.

As an infant and toddler, for as much as I can remember, my sister and I were about as alright as siblings can be. When I was three we welcomed a younger sister Diana into the world, it was a weird time for me, as a three-year-old, I did not have the same cognitive abilities as my sister, five years my senior. We operated as any standard family, each of us three kids believing that the other two were the favorites while the truth was that Mom and Dad loved us all equally and did their best to remind us of that. While we were five years apart, my older sister and I were definitely closer than my younger sister, who was kind of boring to a three and four-year-old me, a sentiment that changed as we continued to age.

Then the new Millennium came and with it the age of the video game. My dad bought me a Playstation and with it, some very interesting games. Some of them were tuned towards seven year old me, while some were a little more action-packed. I was particularly fond of the Medal of Honor franchise, a feeling that continues to this day, which was quite inappropriate for my young age, but tally ho anyway right? Then came a game that would literally define my childhood and the way I would picture my older sister for many long years of my life, Kingdom Hearts. Staying up for all hours of the night with my big sister, taking turns smacking into Heartless and Disney Villains with an overgrown skeleton key with reckless abandon, each of us playing until we died, then passing the controller to the other. I got so good at one point I could play through all of Kingdom Hearts, non-stop with nary a death screen in sight. Except Lock, Shock, and Barrel. Screw those guys. Anyway, that caused Danielle to not desire playing anymore, and as she neared her teen years she became less interested in hanging out with her nerdy little brother and more interested in Music, Boys, and Makeup. Mostly in that order.

In comes the now much cooler little sister, someone whom I could teach the way of gaming to and hopefully have someone to hang out with. It worked, for a time, and then I became less interested in Kingdom Hearts and more interested in first person games like the Elder Scrolls series, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, and Halo. Danielle played Halo for a bit with me, I feel like for old times sake, and because who doesn't like explosions? But for the most part, the days of gaming with my siblings was over.

Middle school me was a recluse. I barely played outside, started gaining weight, and got really good at guns. Of course, girls became a thing for me around this time, but we will gloss over that whole situation. It was basically ten to twelve years of disappointment anyways. Thank God for my fiance (haha).

My older sister would give me rides to school during those years. Sitting in the car talking about music and how much we both hated our respective school lives brought us a little closer together, so much so that whenever I give a little effort, I can still remember the short drives too and from school, the sound of Eminem's Curtain Call on the CD player and the smell of Marlboro Lights, Dani's cigarette of choice until she quit, all the while talking about how utterly stupid we thought everything was. Good times. In fact, Dani sometimes took me to Sonic, her first job, after school to get a drink, sisters can be cool sometimes I guess.

Diana, on the other hand, became more open to the Idea of gaming, and I even let her do her own playthroughs off both Kingdom Hearts games on my PlayStation 2. We had lots of fun going through the Disney themed levels, kicking butt and learning more about the game, I would like to think those little moments created a gamer out of her too, she is actually quite good at Breath of the Wild from what I have seen.

Fast forward to the modern day, my older sister is a mom of three. And to me, this is her best version. Yeah, she can be a little bull-headed, and sometimes even selfish (I mean we all are, duh?). But, when I see her look at her kids, and hold them, I realized that this is who she was meant to be, a mom, my sister, someone to talk to about things that other people may not quite understand. After all, she has known me my whole life, and knows me better than most.

Diana, she and I have grown further apart. Mostly because we are similar in a lot of ways and different in executions. We both obsess over things, we both hunger to advance ourselves in others eyes, and we both strive to take care of what matters to us. The fact that we have grown apart is just a natural part of life to me, and given a few years, like celestial bodies, we will be closer together again. These things do not worry me, and believe it or not, though I would never say this in person and will deny ever writing this if it was ever brought up, I am proud of Diana. She is whip-smart, dedicated, and has a vast yearning for knowledge. We get that from both of our parents.

The point of this trip down memory lane was to showcase the evolution of our memories of one another, and how changing personalities, puberty, family tragedy, and even moving away start to affect our views of one another. I remember my sisters as exactly who they are. Danielle is a loving, tough, disciplined, carefree, and overall kind soul, who wishes nothing more than to provide for her kids. Sure, she made mistakes, did poor in school and ran with the wrong crowd for a bit, but all it took were three little pairs of watching eyes to turn her into someone that I am proud to call my Big Sis. Diana on the other hand is sharp, intellectual, meticulous, calculated, and efficient. She is about as close to a learning machine as anyone I have ever met, and her ability to grasp at higher concepts of learning is matched only by her willingness to reach at those concepts. I would not be surprised to have a doctor in my family one day, although her focuses are more on the four-legged medicine than the two-legged, which suits her personality just fine. Animals can not lie to you, I believe is her view point.

What do you think of me? Of your sisters or brothers? Of your parents? What has changed those viewpoints, and do others viewpoints of you matter?

Life is full of opposing viewpoints, and how we remember each other helps us to paint a picture of our world. Orson Welles once said, "We are born alone, we live alone, and we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion, for a moment, that we are not alone." Now I may not agree with Mr. Welles entirely due to my faith, I can agree that the love we feel for each other certainly fills in the gaps and makes us less, lonely. And I am okay with that.