The day has come for you to help your brother or sister move in to their freshman dorm. You never thought it would be this hard.

For any older sibling, it can be hard to believe when your kid brother or sister has finally started high school or gotten their driver's license. To you, it may seem like they are still that 10-year-old brat that followed you around everywhere, but the reality is that your little sibling has grown up. They've grown into a shiny, new adult that is ready to start their life and capable of making their own decisions.

I didn't realize how much it would affect me when my little sister started college. During the summer, I felt as if I couldn't wait to get back to school and see my friends again, to get back to the productive rhythm of classes and assignments; and yet, as move-in day drew closer, I felt the anticipation give away to stress and anxiety. I worried over ordering textbooks, obsessed over buying kitchen supplies, and freaked out about my class schedule; things that would normally excite me about moving back to school suddenly made me feel like running away, like I was headed for disaster.

I realized that the reason I was so stressed was because, when I was going back to college, my younger sister would be starting college. For the past two years, I have been the one to move out to college, while my sister was still back home waiting for me whenever I wanted to visit. It was like time traveling back to high school; I felt like nothing had really changed. Now, with my sister going off to school three hours away, I have to face the truth that not only am I growing up... but so is she. My sister isn't waiting back home for me to visit her when I get homesick - she's out in the real world living her own life now, with new people I haven't met, in places I've never been.

I'm scared that something might happen to her, that she could wind up in danger somehow and I won't be able to help her. I'm scared that she might not make the choices I would want her to make. I'm scared that she won't want to come home and see me anymore. I'm scared that she'll change and I won't recognize her when we come home for Christmas.

I'm scared about a lot of things. But I know that it is time for me to let her watch out for herself, make her own choices, and be her own person. As her sister, I just want for her to have the greatest college experience possible... but it is time for me to let go of my anxieties and leave her be.

I think helping my younger sister move into her dorm room and driving away was one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but I am so incredibly proud of her for becoming the person she is today -- a mature young adult with an open mind and a bright future.