I will admit, I was that annoying little sister that got my older sister in trouble. There were multiple times where my sister claimed she was adopted because there was no way that she was related to me. We had our fights, but at the end of the day, we still cared about each other. Although we didn’t always show it when we were little, my sister did love me.

For example, when I was about three and she was seven we were on a hike on a really windy day and my sister was yelling at me when I wandered too far and kept saying to my mom, “it’s too windy she’s going to blow away!”

Throughout our elementary days, we didn’t really get along, and throughout her middle school years, she never let me near her when she had friends over. We were basically just two people who were forced to live with each other, sometimes accusing the other of stealing something from the other’s room.

It wasn’t really until she was a senior and I was an 8th grader when we started getting along. She began to drive to school and since my mom didn’t see a point in driving me to school when my sister could, she was then forced to drive me every day. There was the occasional threat to leave me at home because I took to long to get ready, but soon we were bonding over Disney music and she started to think I was less annoying.

She let me stick around when her friends were over and I even got to go on a few adventures with them.

She began to change from just my sister to one of my best friends.

The timing kind of sucked, because a few months later we were dropping her off at college two hours away and I barely got to see her. I would text her occasionally, making sure she didn’t forget about me. I always got really excited when I got to go up and visit her for the weekend, and it was always too short. Next thing I know it’s the summer before both of our senior year, and she’s telling me that she’s transferring to Gustavus and was going to live at home.

I was really excited because I had to admit, it would get kind of lonely without her sometimes.

When she was two hours away, she never was able to come to my athletic games or band concerts, but now that she was back she came to almost every home game and concert. She would let me vent to her and we would joke around and have jam sessions in the car. I had my best friend back.

Now we’re both at Gustavus and I still see her pretty regularly even though I live on campus and she lives at home. We go on Target runs and have caf dates and sometimes I talk her into going to chipotle. I’m so lucky that my sister and I get along as well as we do. I know there are a lot of people in the world that don’t have the best relationship with their siblings, and some don’t even know their siblings.

I’m so grateful that even with the four year age gap, she is not only my sister, but my best friend, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.