Growing up with a sister definitely has its ups and downs. Whenever I complain about how my sister is being a giant pain in my butt (which is quite often), my dad always tells me that I had the choice of a dog or a sister and I chose wrong. OK, Dad…

You start out your journey of life as an only child, thinking to your young self at the age of three, “Wow, my life is going pretty great,” and then BOOM, your parents hit ya with a little sister. Really, Mom and Dad?!?!

As both you and your sister start to get a little older, it becomes a lot easier to pick on her and to boss her around. That stage in life when you’re about seven and she is four, and she will literally do anything you tell her to do, my real question is, why can’t she do that her whole life? Soon after the stage of constantly fighting with your younger sister, you start to somewhat get along better.

My sister and I are a little more than three years apart and four years when it comes to school. So you can all imagine how high school was. When I was a senior in high school, Hailey was just a little freshman, I shouldn’t say little though, because she now towers over me. High school was a different time for the both of us. We saw each other in the halls but thankfully never had any classes together (besides gym class, but we aren’t going to get into that), but the luck did not just stop there. We were both on the cheerleading squad and the softball team together.

School was always OK, but when we would start for our way home or to practice, it could turn ugly real fast. We would fight over the smallest and dumbest things, and we still do. This always led to bigger and better fights for us to have.

Although Hailey is a taller than me, that does not stop us from “sharing” just about everything besides shoes. Our parents do not really know who’s is who’s, so after the laundry is done there is always a giant basket that is leaning like the Tower of Pisa because neither one of us wants to decipher what is ours, which ultimately turns into the greatest game of hide and seek. Hailey likes to play this game called, “well it was in my pile/drawer so it has to be mine.” Oh young one, the mistake you have made. World War 3 starts. I always tell her if she asks to wear something there is a higher possibility that she will be able to wear it. It is a nice perk I will say because when I don’t like my clothes, I can raid her closet.

Besides clothes, my sister and I share a lot of other things as well. A few of my best friends are also some of Hailey’s best friends as well. Most of the time this idea seems to work out fairly well. The other handful of times, not so much. Another thing since I got done with college for the summer that we have had to share: the car. Yes, this is just as bad as it sounds. Hailey just turned 16, so of course she thinks that she needs to have the car all of the time. Life is great and I can’t wait to be back at school.

The absolute best part of having a sister so close in age with me, is that she completely understands me and no matter what we go through she is undoubtedly my best friend. If I am having a bad day, I know that she will be able to always put a smile on my face and will cheer me up in a matter of seconds. At the end of the day, I could not be happier to have chosen a sister instead of a dog, no matter how much I love dogs.

Love you forever, Hay