I ALWAYS WANTED a sister. As a child, I was wildly jealous of my friends who had older sisters. Not younger sisters; they seemed like a right nuisance, but people with older sisters might as well have lived with literal celebrities.

They looked somewhat like us, only they were infinitely cooler, with perfect hair, better clothes, incredible taste in music and entire bedrooms filled with exciting and forbidden things that we had no business rooting through.

Unfortunately for the older sisters, being caught rifling through their rooms and getting a chase off them was every bit as fun as finding something that we shouldn’t have.

They also had incredibly cool friends, who were also at celebrity status and were equally as irritated by our existence. We would stand awkwardly in doorways or lurk outside locked bedrooms trying to overhear snippets of their conversation.

Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

They always had the best gossip. Even if it was just a 15-year-old talking about having beef with a teacher, they sounded incredibly sophisticated. We would clone ourselves off them, their hair, the slang they used, even the way they rolled their eyes.

I always felt girls with sisters had a head start in life. Not just with the hand-me-downs, but by living with someone who was walking the path ahead of them. They got to see what was coming down the line; they watched someone live it.

They had a built-in guide for secondary school, boys, homework and heartbreak, and they also had a second wardrobe and makeup bag to search. Granted, they also caught some WWE-level beat downs when they were caught borrowing, but this just seemed to be an unavoidable occupational hazard.

Even now I still envy my friends with sisters. They go for brunch and nights away together; their trips now often include lovely little nieces and........

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