I miss the days when people knew I was the older sister without asking. I'm sure there was a time when she was a baby that this occurred regularly. There was another era in which we were around the same size and people asked if we were twins (it was a strange stage).

When my high school and her middle school days began, our heights that had been around the same for years began to distance from each other. She was getting taller by the minute and I realized the fate that I'd probably known all along in the back of my mind: my little sister was going to look older than me for an indefinite period of time.

After that fateful moment, some strange, and sometimes irritating events have developed. Hopefully, I'm not the only elder sibling who has gone through experiences like these.

People mistake us for each other.

No, we don't look alike, but at my graduation party a well-meaning friend of our parents congratulated her on graduating from high school. She was a freshman. It was my party.

She can get into R rated movies with me.

This is a convenient perk of her looking older than her age. Albeit slightly aggravating that I, on the other hand, still get carded at almost 19.

Strangers think we're friends of the same age.

No, we didn't meet at school, we met when she was born--when I was three. At least I don't have a younger brother who people mistake for my boyfriend when we're in public together.

(my best friends have the brother problem)

I get her hand-me-downs, not the other way around.

"This dress is too short on me, do you want it?" Sure, I will accept your rejects, as the much shorter sister.

We can't share shoes.

You're my sister, we should be able to! If anything, my feet should be bigger, but no.

(here's her having to lean down to almost match my height)

Having to deal with boys hitting on her in public.

Just because she looks older doesn't mean she is! She's my little sister...stop it.

Realizing if it came to it, she would beat me in a fight.

After she grew 5 inches in two years, I had to come to terms with the fact that if a physical fight ensued (not completely out of the question as it happened a time or two in our younger days), I would lose.

Regardless of these occurrences, some things about our relationship will never change. I will always be at least one step ahead of her in the stages of getting older. I get to help her as much as I can through the processes of learning to drive (done), looking at potential colleges for her (in the process), and much more in the future. Now that she's taller, she's also older and more mature which means I get to learn from her as well. We will continue to help each other grow in life, and for that I'm grateful that I have my younger sibling (who now looks older than me).