I can so clearly remember the day you were born, as if it were just yesterday. I was 9 years old, in the third grade. I got to skip school and proudly wear my "I'm a big sister" sweatshirt to the hospital, and even though I had already become a big sister when mom and dad had our brother, this was different. I was going to have a sister that everyone told me would look up to me and want to be exactly like me, and that wasn't something I could take lightly.
Now here we are, 10 years later, and it is unmistakable that you are my sister. We look exactly alike, have many of the same personality traits and you already follow a lot of the things I do, whether they be good or bad. But I want you to know that you are your own person and it is okay to be yourself. I do not want you to feel like you have to live in my shadow, but rather I want you to live a life that is 100 percent you. It may be hard to believe, but the hardest part of leaving for college was leaving you and not getting to watch you grow into the person you are becoming everyday.
There are a few things that I want you to know and remember as you grow into your own person. First, you are loved far more than you will ever know by a God who died to know you. In 1 John 3:16 it says, "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us". So if you ever at all feel unloved, know that I love you so much, but God loves you enough to die for you.
Second, you are so precious to me and I love you more than you will ever know. I know we don't always get along, mostly because we are the two most strong willed people in our family, but our fights and bickering could never change my love for you.
Also, I know in some ways you look up to me, but I look up to you too (and pretty soon I'll look up to you physically too). You always say how you feel, you aren't afraid of anything, and you care for people so very much. And I know as you continue to grow, you are going to develop even more qualities that I wish I had. Lastly, you will always be my baby sister. I know you are eventually going to be bigger and taller than me, but that will never change the fact that you're my baby sis.
My life changed drastically the day mom and dad brought you home from the hospital, and I wouldn't change a single thing about that. Thank you for teaching me responsibility and how to be unselfish. I love watching you grow into the person God has planned out for you, and I know you're going to do big things baby sis. You might be my mini-me, but I'll always look up to you. Thanks for changing my life, stealing my curly hair and taking the attention off of me for a while. I love you far more than you could ever know.
