Today, at least according to social media, is National Siblings Day. I guess we have gone beyond “Hallmark holidays” to something that exist only in the world of virtual connections. Whatever the source, I think a day to honor siblings is worth having.

I’ve talked to a lot of people about their siblings and I’ve had the chance, professionally, to observe a wide variety of sibling relationships. There are siblings who feel more like strangers who happened to be born to the same parents. There are siblings who dislike, compete with and/or work hard to undermine one another. And there are siblings who share a bond that is deeper than any friendship, more enduring than any relationship.

I have always considered myself very fortunate to have had the closest of relationships with my brother. Less than two years apart, we were partners in everything as children—not all of it good. As the eldest, I was the one who got the spankings and, frankly, I generally (okay, always) deserved it. I’d like to claim that I didn’t always instigate the trouble, but, honestly, I don’t remember a time that I didn’t.

We lived through losing our mother at 25 and 24, our father at 35 and 34, respectively. But never did I dream that my brother’s life would end in his 40’s and never could I imagine that I would live the rest of my life without him. I have said many times that when you lose a sibling, you lose the past, present and future. They are the person you know the longest and the one you expect to be with you forever. Until they are not.

My brother was the kindest of souls, the gentlest of beings. He was a person who loved without restraint, who gave without hesitation, who touched the lives of everyone around him. He was the person you would trust with your life and never question the wisdom of that decision. He was my confidante, my shared history, the person who could finish my stories and my sentences. He is the person who would hug me so tightly and for so long that my world, often askew, would right itself.

So National Siblings Day reminds me of the loss I carry with me daily but it does not have to remind me of the hole that is, and will always be, in my heart. It also reminds me to be grateful, grateful for the years we did have, grateful for the relationship that I did, and will always, treasure.

While I know that not all siblings are close, I also know that there is merit in appreciating what we have. I know that we can find the good when we look for it, value the connections for what they are, and build on the strength of what we share—with our siblings and with others in our lives.

If you have siblings, I hope you find a moment to acknowledge that relationship today. Even if you acknowledge nothing more about them than the fact that you share a history, I hope you take a moment and find the blessing in that simple truth.