I never thought that I would miss living in the same household as my sister. Up until about two years ago, my sister, Akansha, and I lived in the same house.

We are three years apart in age but four years apart in grade levels, so, when I was finishing middle school, my sister was finishing high school; naturally, she became my personal Uber driver.

But every now and then there would be times when she would forget to pick me up or stay after school for a club. I was left unaware and would have to walk home. At first, this used to annoy me, however, looking back this has made me realize that I miss the presence of her being there.

Luckily, we never had to share rooms growing up and as she goes to college we still live in the same time zone, we just can’t always make time for each other. We meet every day by telephone, but it will never replace the countless amount of times we would barge into each other’s rooms and get sick of each other. 

Whenever we were given sweets such as a cookie or a donut, the established rule was that whoever split the treat wouldn’t choose the half they wanted. This tended to result in silly squabbles over who got the larger piece. But as we got older, Akansha was always the bigger person in these situations and would give me the entire treat. 

When summertime rolled around, Fridays would be designated as our movie nights, and we would order food from local restaurants. The floors of our loft would be covered with sleeping bags, and we would watch movies until eventually one of us fell asleep, which most of the time was my sister. 

Akansha got her first car at 16 and named it “Oli,” which at first seemed childish to me but has slowly grown on me since then.  Whenever we’d get in the car to go somewhere and Akansha was trying to get a point across, she would sometimes end her conversation with the phrase “You picking up what I’m putting down?” leaving me in chuckles every time.

I notice that for the little pockets of time that we do get to live together, we help each other grow by improving our weaknesses.  For example, when it comes to productivity Akansha knows how to space out her time, but, when it comes to physical activity, I know how to stay consistent.

But when it comes to things like washing the dishes I complete half of the job. I wash the dish but leave it in the sink whereas Akansha washes the dish and puts it in the dishwasher. But If I had to choose one thing I admire most about my sister it would be that she would always make time for me.

Throughout the course of her high school career, she took 10 APs and still managed to wake me up, take me to and from school, help me with my homework, and eat dinner with me at the end of the day. Whenever I wasn’t thinking clearly or wasn’t in the correct mindset, she was there to declutter my thoughts and, sometimes, even knew me better than I knew myself.

Unfortunately, Akansha’s senior year of high school was cut short, and she never experienced the graduation ceremony and celebratory party that every senior fantasizes about. Although this news devastated her, I was so blessed when I found out that she would be spending her first semester of college online. 

2020 was the year that we both experienced school from home, and I will forever hold on to it because I was given the one thing that I wanted most: more time with my sister.