Dear "brudder,"

Well, your time has come. You're going to be a real adult now. Gross.

I remember my first memories with you. I remember the picture I scribbled for you on the day you were born, and I can still picture trying to shove your bottle down your throat in an attempt to help feed you as an infant. I was such a brat when you were born. I was so jealous of all the attention you got, and I nearly injured you some days trying to get that attention back. However, that jealousy eventually wore off, and we started becoming friends.

When we were growing up, we came up with the craziest ways to entertain ourselves. We consistently took first and second place in our Mario Cart Double Dash races (I won't embarrass you by saying who was pretty much always in first). We turned our playroom into a convenience store, and together we ran an entire business before dinner time. And when we couldn't sleep at night, we'd crawl through the living room like ninjas, hiding behind ottomans and recliners, and seeing how close we could get across the room before getting caught. You essentially became my partner in crime.

As we got older, that adventurous relationship continued to grow, but another element to our friendship began to form. We watched our parents' marriage begin to crumble, and with it, our entire way of life. We soon found out that there was only one other person in this world who could 100% relate to our situation, and that was each other. To this day, you are the only person who knows exactly what it felt like during that time in our lives, and I believe that only brought us closer. Together, we learned how to cope, forgive and endure.

Three years ago, I left for college, and our friendship essentially became long-distance. I will say, it was weird at first not living right down the hall from you. I could no longer scream for you from the bathroom when I was out of toilet paper, and I honestly kind of missed interrupting you while you were playing video games. However, during my second semester of my freshman year, I did something that added yet another element to our relationship: I made you my tattoo.

I'd known for a while that I wanted a tattoo, but I could never commit to a specific design. One day, it finally clicked for me. Who am I going to love in this world more consistently and more deeply than my baby brother? So with your help, I got a tattoo of a voice recording of your voice. In the recording, you're saying, "We are best friends. No matter what happens, you ain't never had a friend like me." Well, at least I hope that's what you're saying. Regardless, I've never regretted that tattoo, and what you're saying in it holds so much meaning and love for me.

It's been a crazy ride with you, bro, and it's most certainly not over. I can honestly say I'm thrilled to see where life takes as you begin this new chapter. And even as you get older and become a real grown-up, I hope you don't lose your spirit. Please do keep that part of you that makes funny faces at me and doesn't let me get too serious. But also keep your kind heart. Keep being the brother who still lets me kiss you on the cheek for pictures, and who burns his hand by picking up hot metal out of the middle of the road. Let's keep telling people that we're actually twins, and don't forget to call so we can compare Chick-fil-A work experiences.

So as you enter into this week as a student and leave it as a graduate, allow me to raise a toast.

Here's to countless hours of Teen Titans, enduring matching sunburns at the beach, and drinking all of the mango V8 juice. May we never lose our good looks and our sense of wonder as you begin this new journey into adulthood.

I love you so very much, baby brudder. Take the world by storm.