As youngsters we tend to fight with our siblings, get agitated with everything they do, and look at them as if they are of evil villains sent to make life complicated. When we grow up with brothers and sisters, we may think to ourselves, "There will never come a time when we are just friends and fully support one another".
As the only girl and the youngest in my family, this thought definitely crossed my mind. I looked at my parents, aunts, and uncles, and said to myself, "I will never have a friendship like that with my brothers". Boy was I happily mistaken.
It first hit me that my brothers would be lifelong best friends when I reached the ripe old age of eight. Our family situation became "dysfunctional" at best. I quickly learned that I wasn't alone in any of what was going on around me. I had two older siblings right by my side who would do anything to protect me.
As I look at my relationships with my brothers as a grown adult, I feel like our bond just keeps getting stronger and stronger. Yes, we're going our separate ways, moving away from home, and starting our own lives, but deep down I know that time has brought us that much closer together.
A word of advice from me to all of you..... Text, call, FaceTime, or even email your siblings. Tell them how proud you are of them and how much you love them. Believe it or not, small words of appreciation are often the most powerful and quite often remembered forever.
Cherish your relationships with family. As I LOOK FORWARD into my future, and as you LOOK FORWARD into yours, we have to keep in mind that home is where the heart is, and those people are will always have a piece of our hearts.
