Dear Madison,

As I get ready to leave for college I thought I would give you something to hold onto while I'm away. Here are some bits of advice for you from your wise older sister.

Take your school work seriously.

I was the worst about this. I thought, if it was due tomorrow, do it tomorrow. Sounds like a great idea doesn't it? Gives you time to continue watching shows on Netflix or the videos on Youtube that I know you love. It isn't a great idea trust me. First of all, you are adding stress that doesn't even need to be there and you're practicing bad habits. Just do your homework and study for tests. Be the good student. It'll come in handy when you go to college and you have good study methods.

Don't stress about boys. Just don't.

This is probably the most important one. You are not going to find the one in high school. Well I mean you might but chances are you won't. So don't get caught up on one boy or really any boy. If you want to love someone then love yourself. You deserve it. Fall in love with your kind heart and your beautiful smile. You are worth more than gold.

Don't be like me..

You were just recently given the title of cheer captain and I'm so beyond excited for you! You have already started to "follow in my footsteps" as everyone has pointed out to me. But I hate that. Because as much as I loved cheer and being captain I know that we don't love it the same way. I hope you will look at the way I handled my responsibilities and learn from me. But, I don't want you to feel like you have to do exactly as I did. I want you to be better than me. I want you to show everyone that you are your own person not just Kaylie's little sister. So the next time someone says that I left big shoes for you to fill, laugh. Because that isn't true. We are so different in many ways. You have your own talents that I wish I had. So don't be me, be you. Because you are amazing in your own perfectly imperfect way.

Having you as my little person who looks up at me and constantly is following every little movement I make is a little scary. I mean I don't always make the right decisions and I hope that you can learn from the mistakes that I have made. I hope that if you learn anything from this it's that I love you to the moon. And I am willing to take a bullet for you no matter what.

Saying goodbye to you when I leave in a couple weeks is going to break my heart. But as a wise cartoon character once said,

"How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." - Winnie The Pooh