If you have a younger sibling, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. You’ve stood by them, you went through the stages where you didn’t know if they would love you that day or if you would be too cool for them.

You go to all their sporting events and you support them in everything they do. Then suddenly they are a senior in high school and as you realize you have supported them and pushed them to be their absolute best, you also realize that their best has allowed them to have an endless amount of opportunities.

They start to talk to you about what they want to be, where they want to go to school and how excited they are to get where they want to be. That’s when I realized I could end up hours away from the one person that keeps me grounded. I could end up hours away from the person I would go to jail for because that person is my entire world.

There would be no more thirty minute trips to watch them play ball, thirty-minute drives to have lunch because “hey sis can we get food and talk?” popped up on your cell phone on one of your busiest days but that was okay because you still dropped everything to go.

The hardest part of watching them grow is knowing you have to let go.

I for one, am still struggling to slowly start letting go of my little brother as he is starting his senior year and basketball is about to begin I can’t help but to wish he was a baby again, even though I couldn’t stand him at that age and I am so thankful that he is now my best friend, I am unable to stomach the fact that he is starting his life now, and after he graduates he will take off.

Yet, I open up and realize that he too must let his wings out and fly. He will have to fail and he will have to bring himself back from it. The same way I have. The same way that we all have.

We, as older siblings cannot sit back and wait to catch them when they fail, or they will never completely take off to succeed the way that we know that they can and have the ability too.

To my baby brother, always know I’m here.

I may not catch you when you fall and will have to let you learn from your mistakes but I will be there to cheer you on with every step of the way. I love you more than you will ever know.