Patricia Sophia Villalobos
And suddenly your kid sister isn’t a kid anymore
You are embarrassing and she ignores you in the hallways at school and makes it a point to let you know she doesn’t approve of your outfit. You are from a completely different generation even though you are barely two years apart in age.
She makes you drive her everywhere and enlists you as her partner in crime. She’s 16 and you can’t believe it because you were just 16 last week.
SPACE
You catch yourself pressing your ear against the wall to see if those are peels of despair or howls of laughter. Sometimes you pass by her door, the one right next to yours, and you hear her playing the music you listen to. The very same she gagged at a few weeks ago and not so secretly hummed along with.
SPACE
You pile in the car for your daily summer ice cream run and you notice she has rings on nearly every finger, just like how you chose to wear yours. You can’t help but feel that you had some effect on her, although she will do anything to deny it.
SPACE
She’s taller than you now. Your baby sister, the one and only, is a full half-inch taller than you. You make a point to go on your tip-toes in photos just to seem that much older because you will never be able to accept it.
SPACE
She’s learning how to drive and you feel a fraction of the same panic your parents felt when they were teaching you. You didn’t understand it then, but you sure do now. She’s athletic where you are academic. She’s brave where you are wary. She’s sweet where you are temperamental. She is everything that I will never be, and I am grateful for it.