My sister, Anna, is three years younger than me, and is currently a junior in college, and she is hands down my favorite person in the world. The title of this post may be misleading because I have always thought of Anna as my best friend, but the dynamic of our friendship has changed so many times throughout our lives, and it has never been what it is now.

To understand our relationship we have to start from the beginning. When we were growing up, Anna and I were inseparable. We would play together for hours and hours. American girl dolls, Polly Pockets, Barbies, on the trampoline, arts and crafts, creating imaginary worlds, building forts that would turn into shops, restaurants, cars, or mansions – you name it, and we played it. Our favorite game of all time was called “Sisters”. Don’t ask why we had to play “Sisters” when that’s exactly what we were or why we played it for years, but it was the most fun imaginary world we created of all time, and Anna will be the only person to ever understand fully. Besides now, this play phase of life is probably the closest Anna and I were. After this play phase, Anna and I have always had fun together, and we never really fought, but we were always in a different phase of life. From what I have gathered, it is common to be so close to your siblings when you are very young and then to slightly grow apart in the teenage years. Anna and I didn’t necessarily grow apart, but it was different. 

I loved the phase where I had my license in high school and got to drive Anna to her middle school with me every day (even though she did end up getting detention for always being late). The next phase was when we were in high school for a year together. We always had some overlapping friends, and it was fun to be so intertwined while at the same school and on the same dance team, but senior year and freshman year are very different. For example, you don’t really know if it’s okay to share with your little sister that you had a beer at the party the night before or about the boy you kissed. The next phase was when I went to college and left Anna at home with my parents (I’m sure she has a lot of feelings she would share about that time of life from the little sister’s perspective). It was terrible and hard when I had to leave her at home, but even then, we remained close, calling each other as much as possible. Once again though, college was a whole new world for me that Anna had not yet experienced. Next, it was so much fun when we got to be at college together for one year, our friends overlapped, and we got to create so many fun memories together including becoming sorority sisters, going to the same parties, and living life together in the same town again. Through every phase, Anna kept getting cooler and cooler and became less of a little sister and even more of a friend. It’s like if you picture a sliding scale and at one end it says little sister and the other end says best friend. As we’ve gone through these different phases she has gotten closer and closer to the best friend side and farther and farther from the little sister side. 

Now, Anna is my go to person about anything. We tell each other everything, and laugh about our ups and downs in life while also telling each other if and where the other went wrong. She is the person who can talk me off a ledge, knows me better than anyone, and can read me from a mile away. Although she is still in college and I am not, we are at a place in life where we truly understand what the other one is going through including and not limited to – friends, boys, navigating who we are becoming, school/work, what’s next in life, living on own, our family, and the day to day. As I have gotten older this has become more true and I can only imagine it will become even more true as time goes on and through our future phases in life.

Growing up people have always said how lucky Anna and I were to be so close and to be such good friends. I have always believed that statement and acknowledged it, but now I know why people have gone out of their way to say it, and I understand how lucky I really am. Now, with changing friendships, moving to new cities, and leaving home, my friendship with my sister is what I treasure the most and what has become the most constant, stable, and fulfilling relationship in my life. She is the person who understands every phase of life we have gone through together starting from the beginning. She is who I have a matching tattoo with, who loves Taylor Swift just as much as I do, who I can’t stay mad at, and who gives the best advice. Relationships change, and people change, but having a best friend in a lifelong friend and sister is something I will never take for granted. 

Now Anna just has to turn 21 😉