Saying goodbye to my sister, Laura, a short 48 hours after she picked me up from the airport was depressing.

She will spend a semester in Fiji, studying marine biology, but I probably won’t see her until after my year in France, which means we will have spent two days together during the past two years.

Laura and I have grown close, as we’ve been apart.

Enemies for 17 years, we began to appreciate one another after I left home to attend Ohio University, 2.5 hours south of our hometown, Mt. Vernon. I rarely came home and the distance made us grow a fondness for one another that could easily be upset by spending too much time together again during holidays or summer vacations. Fortunately for the health of our relationship I was eager to set out and explore and spent few holidays in Ohio, and I then embarked on my year of travel abroad immediately after graduating. During the past four years Laura’s and my time has rarely overlapped.

Two days out of two years is a bit extreme, even for two girls who tortured one another, by stealing the bigger bedroom, taking the biggest piece of cake and telling mom that the other called her ‘stupid’. She vowed to hate me forever, and I promised that when I grew up I would never speak to her again. Now we still rarely talk, but I recognize her worth and she respects me. We convey a lot of love and understanding through the few words, and short amount of time, we share.

No one will ever grow up under the same circumstances I did and she is the only witness to my entire life (minus the first 16 months before she was born).

I guess our bond is bigger than the oceans and continents that keep us apart (cheesy, but true).

She will do great things abroad and I’m happy to support her, just as I know she is proud of the things I’ve done with my life.

Good luck in Fiji sis!