Everything I did when I was little, I did with my older sister and younger brother. Being close in age allowed us to become very close. I grew up sharing a room with my sister so we were constantly in each others presence. And since my brother was the youngest, he would always follow us around. We were the three amigos. I knew I could always depend on one or the other, and although we would get sick of each other and fight once in a while, we always made up. Being close with my siblings and seeing them constantly was something I thought would be forever. However, as you get older, time starts to speed up. A year no longer feels like an eternity, and you start to realize that your childhood is coming to an end.
The summer of 2013 my sister had just graduated from high school. She was traveling with our high school’s theatre department to Scotland to perform Songs for a New World by Jason Robert Brown for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I had traveled to Spain by myself to stay the summer with my relatives there. For the first time, the three of us had been separated for almost two months. Once I got back from Spain, my sister had already left to start her Freshman year at the University of California in Los Angeles. It all felt so unreal, I was going to start my Junior year in high school. Which meant I had to take the SAT’s soon and start my search for colleges.
I had always known that someday the three of us would depart our own ways, only to see each other once in a while. But not until that summer had it really sunk in. All of a sudden I had my own room, and although at first I was overjoyed with excitement to make it my own, it felt wrong without my sister. And although I still had my brother to keep company and my parents, for a while it felt like something was missing. Over time, however, I got used to it
Fast forward, and now I am a college student who lives away from home. My sister is studying abroad in London at Kings College and she may or may not come back for the summer depending on whether she gets an internship or not. My brother is a Junior and has begun his journey in finding the perfect college for him. Thinking of my childhood and spending most of my time with my siblings makes me feel nostalgic. But, I am not sad, I am merely excited to see how we all succeed in life.
Picture taken after my graduation, Spring 2015. On my left is Natalia (my sister), and on my right is Diego (my brother).