Our older siblings are peculiar people: sometimes they are our best friend, sometimes they are our worst enemy, and other times they are our third parent. While all of these roles are at different ends of the spectrum, in each role one thing remains true; they care a whole lot about us. Similar to our parents, they feel what we feel. They can feel our happiness, our self-pride, or our sorrow. There's no hiding stuff from them: whether you're a hardcover or a paperback, they're going to read you like a book.

They like some of our friends, but only the ones that make fun of us as much as they do. They dislike the people who have hurt us; we don't even have to tell them to, they just know what's up. Somehow, they find a way to remember almost every person you have ever interacted with. You can bring up your best friend from first grade that you never talk to anymore and they know exactly who you are talking about.

They get under our skins, and we certainly get under theirs. If there's one thing that we excel at as the younger sibling, it is finding the one thing that irritates our older siblings more than anything, and continue to do it repeatedly. It's strange how even though we do it with a smile on our face, they still don't find it that funny.

We spend more time with our siblings than with almost anyone else. It can be for a long periods of time or even just a couple minutes before our next stage of the day. Through all the ins and outs and ups and downs of growing up with our siblings, there are many moments that we fail to appreciate. And there are so many things that I haven't said thank you for.

Thank you for humoring my three-year old's imagination. You may have just been swinging your bag of dirty laundry around while I ran around with an empty paper towel roll and a diaper on my head, but for a few minutes I was a courageous knight and you were an ogre. How many kids can say they've fought an ogre?

Thank you for bullying me on the basketball court. I eventually lost count of how many times I lost in one-on-one, and how many times you backed me down to shoot a little turnaround, but each time was just as fun. I certainly wouldn't have become the basketball player I am today without that kind of tough love.

Thank you for throwing snowballs at me until one inevitably hit me in the face. Unfortunately, sometimes we found a way to have too much fun.

Thank you for taking my broke ass to countless movies in middle school and high school. As cool as all of those movies were, the most exciting part was the fact that you wanted to hang out with me. You could have been out with your friends, but you spent the night with your annoying little brother who probably talked too much during the movie.

Thank you for listening to my problems however insignificant they may have seemed. I'm sure my high school issues didn't really seem all that big of a deal, but to me, they were everything at the time. You have experienced the highs and the lows of all the different stages of school and know what it is like to feel stuck in whatever adversity you are facing.

Thank you for giving me a niece and nephew who manage to brighten up any room they walk into. They are your pride and joy and hold such a big place in your life now, but I get to watch them grow up as well. I just hope I can be half the uncle that you are a father.

Thank you for being my best friends.

And thank you for supporting me in whatever I do. You guys have always been there for me and cared more about me than I could have thought possible. Everything I do to try and repay your kindness just doesn't seem quite enough, but I hope I can make you proud.