Everyone who knows me often hears me mention one thing (or two if I’m being specific) in conversations: My sisters. There is never a time I hold back on mentioning the two girls who taught me what girlhood means. Spring Break is here, which means my sisters and I are finally reuniting. As a college student, it is hard to be away from my sisters all the time. In college, I have friends, a pet, a partner, classmates, roommates,and even coworkers that I enjoy sharing time with, but nothing compares to the comfort and humor a room has with all three of us in it.
I am the middle child of two sisters. My older sister plays a huge role in forming the woman I am today. Alongside my parents, my older sister was like having a mini Mom at home, too. She carried many responsibilities, watching over my younger sister and me, and being a good role model. As a little girl, I always had an older, similar-in-age girl next to me. My older sister takes credit for TV shows, movies, clothes, games, and music I grew up on. Thanks to her, I have a feeling of nostalgia when watching Aquamarine or Barbie animated movies. I played dress-up and room makeover games on GirlsGoGames. I know most, if not all, of One Direction’s discography because of her. It’s not just the fun, bubbly things she adds to my life; she gives me a future look into the big adult world. In my family, my older sister was the first to graduate college with a four-year Bachelor’s degree, which is one of the things I find pride in saying she has accomplished. To this day, I brag about how amazing a nurse she is and what she has accomplished. As I approach my graduation date this May, my older sister has been a big inspiration and role model for what I want to achieve for myself post-grad. My older sister is not just someone who watches over me, but she is a woman who will always support me and cheer me on.
Then there are moments I feel like annoying my older sister so much, that’s when I join with my younger sister to be the most irritating, evil pair of younger sisters we can be. My younger sister brings out both the responsible, older sister version of me and the annoying, younger sister version of me. As a big sister, I have a duty to guide my baby sister to be the best and happiest version of herself she can be. By this I mean I will tell her the blunt truth when a friend could be doing her dirty, or what to do when school is being a pain in the butt, or what self-care routines she should do in order to be at peace, because being a teenage girl is not easy.
Aside from being a big older sister to her, I can also join her shenanigans when it comes to annoying my older sister and my parents. We would pretend we were in Dance Moms and stomped around the living room while everyone else was cleaning. We’d both sing at the top of our lungs to annoy everyone else in the house. We send dumb TikToks and Instagram reels to each other because we understand certain meme references. As much as we both annoy each other, she will always keep me young. Just like any other pair of sisters, we could be arguing with so much passive aggressiveness or yelling, but the next minute we would make up like it was nothing.
I wouldn’t wish to grow up without sisters ever; they were my first lessons of girlhood and womanhood. Thanks to my sisters, I hold strong values towards female friendships and unity amongst women dearly.
It’s a bittersweet feeling being with sisters constantly every day of your life as a child, to watching your sisters grow up and fly the nest.