As the oldest of three children, I’ll admit that my relationship with my siblings is not always sunshine and rainbows. I’d hate to lie about that and give someone the wrong idea about having a sibling. We have more than our fair share of fighting. Sometimes, it feels like World War 3 is waging in the house. Occasionally, one of us will go too far with a joke and hurt someone’s feelings. However, they’ve also experienced the worst of the worst and best of the best with me. My brother and sister (usually) bring something special to my life. I don’t know where I’d be without them, and here are just a few of the reasons why I love both of them.

After losing our father to cancer in April 2016, it was hard to find a reason to start living a normal life again. My siblings helped me do that. They gave me a reason to smile during the toughest trial of our lives.

My siblings are always good for a laugh.

I’ll be the first to admit that the laughter will usually come from picking on one sibling together. Aside from that, I know I can count on my brother and sister to make me laugh at the end of a long day. They’re easily some of the funniest people in my life, and there’s been more than one night where we’ve cried from laughter. If I get wrinkles from laughing when I get older, I’ll know who to blame for it. No offense, guys!

I’m never truly away from them.

It’s hard to be an older sister when my family is over an hour away during the school year. I can’t make it to every football game or choir concert, but what matters is that I try to show up as much as possible, and they notice. They’re always happy when I come home for the weekend or holidays because it means that I’m there. They both know that they can call or text me anytime and I’ll answer, because they matter to me. We’re siblings, which means we look out for each other even if we’re far away.

My siblings make me stronger.

After losing our father to cancer in April 2016, it was hard to find a reason to start living a normal life again. My siblings helped me do that. They gave me a reason to smile during the toughest trial of our lives. We’re there for each other on the hard days, even if we don’t always want to be. We have to work together to make it through the hard days. No one understands what I’m going through right now better than they do. We need each other, more than we’d like to admit.

They taught me about humility.

As the oldest of three, it’s hard to admit when I’m wrong about something and even harder to admit when they’re right. They are always there to keep me in check though, just like I do for them. I think my little brother emphasizes this point more so than others. He’s almost six years younger than I am and already seems to be a head taller. It’s hard to accept that. However, if you ask him who’s in charge, he’ll always tell you that it’s me. It’s a system of balance in our household.

Family means that I’m stuck with them.

I don’t mean that as a bad thing, either. While I don’t always like my siblings, I will always love them. We’ll fight and yell and insult each other, but there’s usually a bit of love in the harsh words. My brother and sister are always going to be there for me, whether I like it or not. They’re always going to have me around to help them, whether they like it or not. Isn’t that what siblings are supposed to be?

Editor: Lucy Cafiero