So I have one blood sibling: a sister. We've had a very average relationship as far as I have seen. She's older than me so she started out with a lot of attention, but that changed when I came along. The attention had to be shared between the two of us. You get the idea.

We fought. Sometimes it was really bad. We made up in record time, every time. We laughed to the point where family members wouldn't let us be around other people until we could "get it together", but then laugh some more at the fact that if you stripped us of "the silly" there'd be nothing left.

Around the time she hit high school, she started to show her rebellious side to myself and our parents. I learned a lot from her in that time, in ways I'm sure she never knew, mostly from her doing the opposite. For example, I learned a great deal about having empathy for your parents. They are just two other humans (or one in some other people's cases) doing the best they can to raise another human. She made mistakes like any other human and I learned from them.

During her college years and up until the point that I went in, she was always living somewhere else. I'd see her from time to time, but it felt pretty infrequent. In recent years, things are a little different. I'm able to relate to how she felt in some ways during her rebellious phase and she isn't as much of a stranger. But now there is the distance of a few states between us.

I intentionally spun this story in a hopefully not disgustingly, but still slightly negative light to get to here.
No matter where I am or what I'm doing. No matter if I am out with a group of friends or if I have been shut inside for a week. My sister is the person who is going to understand the obscure meme that I just sent at 1:30 a.m. because my stubborn self hasn't gone to sleep yet. AND... She's probably going to know why I decided to procrastinate.

I was hesitant to write another "siblings are valuable and here's why" article, but then I realized that these articles exist for a reason. Anyone who knows me personally knows I'm not one for being too gushy or emotional, so this is the best way I can express these sentiments.

Sister (you know who you are)

I love you.

Happy Birthday🎈