Give my brother back his watch, or else....

I have two sisters - one older and one younger.

Affie is technically my 1/2 sister, but when someone is around from the time you're born, it's hard to think of them as being 1/2 a relative. She's 11 years and 10 days older than me, but even though there is a big age difference, it's never been a problem. Affie has always had my back, once threatening the mother of a classmate, who stole my watch. I've seen her not back off in an argument with a man at least a foot taller then her (she's 4'11") and probably double her weight.

Emily is 4 years and 360 days younger than me (16 years and 5 days younger than Affie), although, at times, people have thought she and I were twins. For the longest time, Affie and I always saw her as the baby. We have made fun of her when she couldn't speak with a West African accent on a trip to Ghana, but we've always looked out for her, the way older siblings always look out for younger ones - "don't pick on my sister, only I can do that."

Things are a little different now.

My family has been going through some tough times over the past few months. For the purposes of privacy, I'll leave it that. It's been difficult for me to put on a happy face over that time. Getting through the holidays, moving to Europe, and meeting a few new people. It has been difficult trying look one way on the outside, while feeling very much the opposite on the inside.

During this time, I've had the support of Lauren, which has been great, but when I've wanted someone to turn to, it has been my sister. Not my older sister, as one might expect, but my younger one.

She has become like the older sibling, and I'm not sure when this happened. Was it when she got a leadership position at a childcare facility, dealing with parents who are more difficult to deal with than their kids? Was it when she had a child of her own, who had to go through an very tough 1st year of life? I don't know. What I do know is, Emily has been the rock in our family, who seems to be the most calm in the storm, the sibling who I now look up to, who I feel now has my back at least as much as I have hers, the 2nd older sister I never had.