My little sister, Kendall, turned sixteen last week… sixteen! She is driving now… driving!

My dad always tells me that he only sees me as his ‘little girl’ and his ‘princess’. In his eyes, I am still 6 years old, playing dress up and with my baby dolls, not driving and living 5 hours away from him.

I never understood that perspective until a few weeks ago when I saw Kendall all dressed up and ready for her Homecoming dance. It hit me then and there that my baby sister wasn’t a baby anymore, she was not the little girl I always saw her as. She was growing up, learning and achieving things, being ‘Kendall my sister’ not ‘Kendall my baby sis’.

This realization not only made me weirded out but made me proud. This girl was in an honor society, making A’s in most of her classes, acing driving lessons, and going to co-ed parties.

Yea, you read that right, co-ed parties… boys and girls! She has crushes on boys and a friend group that comes over and ‘chills’ around the fire pit. I have even heard her cuss once (she was really mad). She is involved at church, amazing at makeup and hair, and is already looking at potential colleges for pre-law. She is legit cool.

All this greatness happened to her and around her while I was not paying attention. I was graduating high school and starting college and moved 5 hours away. My mom calls it “blinking”. She always warning mothers of young kids to be ‘careful not to blink’ because they will ‘miss everything’. I get it now. I blinked, and my baby sister turned into a full grown awesome teenager.

We no longer bicker how we used to, we are beginning to treat each other as best friends. We sometimes laugh so much together that we end up crying on the floor. I smother her with hugs and kisses as she tries to push away, even though I know she loves it. Whenever I am home and drop her off at school, I play awful music really loud, just to embarrass her a little (a lot), but mostly to make her laugh before she goes in.

And the best thing about her is that she is always going to be there. We are attached through our DNA and she cannot get rid of me (sorry girl).

Although I am immensely proud of how grown up she is, it also scares me a bit. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was sixteen doing things I should not have been doing. It scares me knowing that she is now at the age to be doing some of those things. But I do have faith in her. I know that she is stubborn yet smart and she will make the right choices, along with a few mistakes (because those mistakes help us learn, and we all need to be taught).

I am scared, yet I believe wholeheartedly in her.

Kendall is sixteen. My baby sister is sixteen. It is the weirdest feeling I have felt in a while. I am so unbelievably proud of who she is becoming: a smart and gorgeous badass. She is nothing less. I cannot even fathom how freaked out my parents must be.

Kendall, I love you! I cannot wait to see you soon! Stay amazing sis!