Little Sister

I am proud to say that my older sister and I have a great relationship. Sure it's not perfect and I definitely don't spill all my beans, but we definitely enjoy our time together, taking each other out to lunch, going shopping and playing through Lego Harry Potter and Star Wars. It's probably more therapeutic and healthy than our previous bouts of "sister bonding," which was playing fighting games, trying to beat the crap out of each other. 

But like all things, being the little sister has its pros and cons, especially when my sibling is the same gender. Not only is my older sister only a couple of years older than me, but we also look similar and being in IB, we took pretty much the same classes in high school and had the same teachers. I'm sure teachers never meant any negativity or anything by it, but every year at least one teacher would start off with something to the effect of, "Oh you're Tiffany's little sister? She was so nice and such a good student!" Over the years I think it ended up making me work that much harder, just to get out from my sister's shadow. As much as I love being "Tiffany's little sister," I wanted my own identity and to be known for just being me. It's the same thing in any relationship too. In any of my group of friends I don't want to just be "so and so's girlfriend," I want my independence and identity and sometimes I think I go a little overboard in trying to establish that. But I digress. Anyhoo, being the second Chow at my high school made me try to make a name for myself and I tried to throw myself into other clubs and work even harder in class. Although I think a large part of why I was successful in high school was just my personality, I do believe at least a minor part of it is a result of constantly being compared to my sister. 

Of course being the youngest has a lot of perks too, more than the cons. She paved the way rule-wise for me in high school, letting me "enjoy my youth" a little more than she did. At least, when I was allowed to go to after-prom I didn't set off our house alarm. And when I eventually started dating it was less of a fight, because she had already done it. 
Most of all though, I appreciate having someone to look up to and having an extra person look out for me. Sure, sometimes I feel like I have a second mom when she's disapproving of some of my wilder college ways, but it's nice to have her care. I think being so close in age and having so many similar interests help (which is probably a result of me following her and doing so many things together that I just ended up loving what she does). But my sister is very protective and loving and it's nice to have that. I think while reading the Hunger Games trilogy I (spoiler alert!) was so disappointed when Prim died. I think it's because even though she was not in the series much, the little we learned of her character I identified with her: a little weaker at first glance but towards the end she ended up being a lot stronger and more capable than you would previously imagine. And she had a very protective older sister, ready to do anything for her. I'm not sure Tiff would take my place if I was called into a vicious kill or be killed battle, but I know she would pretty much do anything for me, and I would do the same for her. 

Truthfully my sister and I didn't really fight much growing up, and having someone to look up to, to talk and play with and even share clothes with was one of the best things I could ask for, even if it made me study a little harder because of her :)