As we grow older, we might start to drift away from our siblings. This isn’t a bad thing or something we should be afraid of, it is all a part of life. As a little kid, most likely you grew up with your siblings around all the time. You brush your teeth together, eat breakfast together, walk to the bus together, play together, etc. As we grow up, friends start to become more important and before you know it, your friend group seems to take up more of your time and takes away time from your siblings.

Growing up, I had two sisters and one brother. We had a huge age gap between each other, except for my sister and I, who are 14 months apart. My brother is four years younger than my oldest sister, and my oldest sister is seven years older than me just to give you a timeline. Anyway, as kids, I was always closest to my slightly older sister. We were so close in age that we did everything together. We even shared a room. She may not have liked it all the time, but I loved having a roommate growing up. I always had someone to play with and bug constantly. My older sister was way older and did her own thing and my brother was too young to mess with, so I wasn’t that close to them. Was this a bad thing? No.

Growing up and moving onto to college meant leaving my hometown and not being so close to my siblings anymore. With that, my oldest sister was engaged and it was time to start the wedding planning. Throughout that process, her and I became the closest we had ever been. It was weird to me because growing up as a kid we were never close, but now that we were older and more mature, the age gap didn’t mean a thing.

Now onto my brother, we were always labeled as the younger half of the siblings, but we didn’t start getting close until I was away from college. It is weird how the distance has brought us closer together rather than when we lived under the same roof.

For many of us, we can relate to the fact that as we grow up we start to drift away from our siblings. We don’t talk as much as we use to, we don’t hang out or share stories like we use to, we don’t know everything that is going on, on a day-to-day basis, etc. But I am here to tell you that this isn’t a bad thing. As we grow up we meet new people and new opportunities that take away our time together. Takes away from the time we had as kids sitting in the family room watching the Lion King. Sure, you should always stop and get together every now and then, but do not bring yourself down because they too feel what you are feeling. Instead of feeling it separately, pick up the phone and call that sibling and tell them you still love them and miss them, but it is okay that your lives are going in separate directions.