After watching "Cinderella," I was under the impression that step sisters would always be completely mean and nasty creatures. I had always wished for a little sister to play with, but I never knew what I had coming. It wasn't until my mom married my step dad and I met his daughter, my step sister, that I truly got excited to be a big sister to such a cute, little, innocent creature (see her precious picture below.. she also may hate me for posting this)! She was 4 and I was 7, merely three years apart.

As we got to know each other, we both quickly began to appreciate and love having a constant playmate. She was (and still is) more creative than me, so although I was older I would follow her lead when it came to animal names (below is a small sample of all the hard animals we had and played with...24/7).

She always understood me, both of us children of divorce. Even though we only saw each other half the time normal siblings would, it was always something to look forward to. As we got older, we slowly transitioned away from playing with toys to texting boys on my cell phone.

I taught her about styles, catty girls, and helped with homework. She taught me about compassion, animal breeds and anything artsy, even though she didn't intend to.

Here we are, 12 years later, and I worry about her as if she were my little girl...but I wouldn't have it any other way. She hates feelings and all things mushy gushy, but I truly couldn't have imagined my life without my sister (who just happens to have different parents than me, by the way).

Step sisters aren't ugly, as you can see, mine is actually more beautiful than me. They aren't mean, either, unless "borrowing" everything you own counts. Step-sisters aren't mean or ugly at all; the movie "Cinderella" had it all wrong. Step-sisters are just sisters who have different parents than you do. AND, major plus, every time they do something dumb, you don't have to claim you are related.. and actually mean it ;).

But seriously, people say you can't pick your family, but I know I would still choose my sister every single time.

"They may not have my eyes, they may not have my smile, but they have all my heart." -Unknown