Dear Brother,

You did it. You're about to enter a brand new world where you will spend the next four years discovering yourself, and I couldn't be more proud of you. It's crazy the nostalgia that overwhelms me as I drive past that building and see a memory, knowing good and well that you drive past that building and see your future - the near future, I might add. There's a few things I hope to instill in you before you start this next chapter of your life.

For starters, I want you to be excited for this journey. You're beginning one of the most exciting times of your life filled with self-discovery, lessons to be learned, and an education that will groom you for your bright future ahead. That nervous excitement you feel swelling up in your belly, I hope you welcome with open arms, and never let that hold you back from showing off what you have to offer this new world. You're going to meet so many new faces the first day, and even in the first week, it can start to get overwhelming.

Don't stress yourself out about forcing connections the very first day, I promise the people that are meant to fall into your life will. Remember those middle school teachers that put a damper on your excitement telling you, "You'll never see your middle school friends in high school." Well, they lied. I promise you will be able to recognize faces in the hallway, so please, do not let that lie psych you out. But, at the same time don't be afraid to expand from your comfort zone and see what else you might stumble across in this ocean of new faces.

Secondly, I want you to work hard your freshman year. This is one of the biggest pieces of school-related advice I can give you because your freshman GPA sets the standards for the rest of your coming years. If you start strong, you have a better chance of finishing strong, and it's a lot harder than you might think to save a drowning GPA. So please, focus in class, study for your tests, and have fun on the side. I promise you will thank yourself (and me) when it comes down to applying to colleges. Also, nothing beats seeing Mom and Dad's faces light up when you show them that unbeatable report card! (Brownie points add up, pro tip.)

Next, I want you to get involved. You already know you're entering a new little world, where literally anything is possible. You can play whatever sport you like, experience whichever clubs intrigue you, and even let your voice be heard by partaking in something like the student council. The opportunities are endless, and I challenge you to try and least one new thing each year. This is something that will be both beneficial to the person you are now, and the person you are meant to become. By gaining experience in all aspects of what this school has to offer, you better yourself for a future career, but you might also stumble upon something that drives your passion you never thought twice about before.

Furthermore, I want you to be a risk taker, but that does not mean I want you to take dangerous risks. The tricky thing about high school is the availability for young adults to begin testing the waters, and gaining independence in their own ways. It's easy to fall down a rough path if you aren't surrounding yourself with people that bring out the best in you, or encourage you to make smart choices. I encourage you to recognize when someone is making you happy and filling your life with positive things, and understand when something or someone doesn't give you that good feeling in your gut. I know you're smart enough to distinguish this because we were bred with the same intuition -- don't question it. If a situation makes you feel uneasy, leave. Don't question what you feel, and please be strong enough to walk away, even if you're walking alone.

Going along with that, pleasedon't grow up too fast. I know it's easy watching everyone else around you attempt to make adult choices and decisions, but believe me when I say you want to maximize your time you have as an innocent adolescent. I've seen first hand the way that high school can change a person and their morals and it's disheartening. I hope that you always treat the people around you with decency and respect, because we both know that we weren't raised to offer anything different. Your reputation is the only thing you really have in high-school and you want this to be something you can be proud of. There are times when drama may arise and things may get faulty, but at the end of the day, as long as you know exactly who you are and you are proud of that person, then nobody else's opinion of you will ever matter.

Don't try so hard to impress people. I know fitting in may feel like the most important thing to you, but I can promise you that as long as you remain true to who you are, you will end up exactly where you are supposed to be, surrounded by like-minded people that drive you forward. Frankly, it's too much effort to pretend to be someone you're not and you already have the one thing that sets you apart from everyone else - yourself. Like Dr. Seuss says, "There is no one alive that is youer than you." Follow that advice and always be yourself; your uniqueness is something that only you can offer the world. Embrace it.

I can't promise you that everyday will be easy and that nothing will go wrong. The fact of the matter is that this is reality and things are prone to fall apart sometimes, but I urge you to not let this weigh you down. Instead, pick up each challenge, look it square in the face and conquer it. You have nowhere to go but up and I'm always a phone call or text away if you ever find yourself in any sort of predicament if you need my help. It's okay to ask your big sister for help, I've been through this stuff first hand and wish that I had an older sibling to turn to when things got rocky for me.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot! If you do by chance find yourself in a relationship with a girl, please always treat her with kindness and respect. You're my little brother and I don't normally expect a lot from you, but I do 100 percent expect and hope that you treat a girl the way you would want me to be treated. You've seen me hurt over a relationship in high school and I know this is not the way you would want someone else to feel. I cried when you brought me ice cream and movies in an attempt to make me feel better, and I have high hopes that you will carry that behavior and kindness on throughout any relationship you may find yourself in. I'll give you a tip most boys don't understand -- girls like honest and respectful boys. I've heard that boys that grow up with older sisters make the best boyfriends, so i'm holding you accountable to that and I hope I instilled that in you for your future.

I'm not going to lie to you, these four years are going to go by insanely fast. Day by day, you aren't going to see the changes in yourself, but eventually you will look back and comprehend just how much has changed. You will grow, you will mature and you will prosper during this great chapter of your life, and I'm so excited to see where this life takes you. You learn countless curriculum in high school, dozens of formulas and equations, but some of the most important lessons you're going to stumble upon won't be taught in the textbooks -- keep your eyes out for those.

Lastly, I want to pray for you. I pray that you will be nothing but carefree throughout this journey, but always careful. I pray that you will be smart, but allow yourself room to make mistakes, because we all make them from time to time - it's how we grow. I pray that you surround yourself with the ones that bring your world joy, and let go of the ones that do not allow you that inner peace, because life is too short to waste time on people or things that don't make you happy. I pray that you always succeed, but recognize that it's okay to fail, it only makes you try harder. But most of all, I pray that you embrace this journey and have the time of your life, because you only get one shot at being a high-schooler, and I know that you're going to kill it.

Good luck, little brother. I love you,
Your big sister.