My sister just recently graduated, and even though I knew she would be moving out soon, it just recently dawned on me that I’m losing her as my roommate forever. My sister and I have shared everything in life together. We have shared rooms, meals, and even a college fund. She has been my roommate all of my life. We attended the same college and shared an on-campus apartment for over a year. After I became pregnant my senior year of college, she moved off campus with us to live with us. After the birth of my son, she returned to live with us in our new apartment. Even after I got married, we still shared an apartment. She has been there from the beginning, and now I’m losing her forever.
My son, Maxon, has lived with my sister, his aunt, for his whole 20 months of life and doesn’t even know what’s happened. He probably thinks she’s gone back to our hometown to visit our family, but he has no idea she’s never coming back. She now lives over 100 miles away. I know this sounds strange, but part of me feels like she’s died. A whole part of my heart is missing now. I can no longer walk into my sister’s room and watch Netflix with her or just talk about our boring days. Sure, she’s just a phone call away, but it’s still not the same.
Just like I get excited when I hear my husband walk through the front door, I still get that exact same feeling when I hear my sister walk in. Even my son gets excited when he hears the jingling of the keys. My sister gets me like no one else does, probably not even my husband. She can literally read my mind. It has happened countless times where she’ll start up a random conversation on the topic that is literally on my mind. When we were little, we used to ransack our rooms for things we no longer wanted like perfumes, bracelets, and clothes to trade with each other for things we actually wanted. I will miss these moments forever.
She moved 2.5 hours away to our hometown the day after she graduated. She now plans on attending graduate school down there for the next 2 years, and I’m sure within the next 3 years, she’ll be married and moving into her own house. It feels like I’m never going to see her again, even though I know that’s not true. But in reality, I really only go down to visit my parents maybe once every 2 months. Now that she’s moving back to our hometown, it’s so sad that this will be the new norm. I’m going to miss having that extra person to talk to at home. But I know this is a new season in life, and I have to let her go. She is onto bigger and better things, and I know she is going to do so well. Loosing a roommate is hard, but it’s especially hard when they’re your own sister.
Sure, we have our arguments here and there. But at the end of the day, we know we will always be there for each other. Yeah, it’s annoying when she takes my jokes too seriously and isolates herself in her room because she’s sensitive. Or when she takes out all of her trash from her room and stuffs it in the kitchen trashcan instead of taking it out to the chute. But I’ll still miss those interactions. We’re each other’s favorite shopping buddies, brunch buddies, and study buddies. No one except my sister will put up with me shopping for hours on end at the mall. She literally went with me to the mall a few weeks ago to help me pick out a swimsuit in the middle of winter. She wasn’t even interested in buying anything, she’s just a good friend. We like to leave my son with my husband and sneak away for ice cream dates or food runs. She even has a playlist on her Spotify made just for me for when we drive around in her car. She actually has a playlist for every person in our family, it’s pretty hilarious. She’s pretty much the best Uber driver. She’s also the best auntie to my son. For some reason, my son respects her authority much more than he does mine. If I’m having trouble changing Maxon’s diaper because he’s wiggling too much, my sister will come in and take over. She’s also a great babysitter for when my husband and I want to go out, we just need to bribe her a little with some free food. She is always there for us.
Now that we have moved, it’s sad that my sister no longer has a room in our home. It’s just my husband and son now. But I suppose that’s how it’s supposed to be. To my sister, I know I’m a nag all the time, but I just want to say how incredibly proud I am of you and I already miss you dearly. Maybe one day, we can buy a big house and just live together in it with our families. Let me know what you think, Molly!