My dearest Schmoopy,

I wanted to use my article this week to write you a letter - no reason in particular. I just wanted this to be for you. I wanted to say thank you for a couple of things:

First, thank you for constantly showing me up.

Y'all, my sister is perfect. She got magnificent grades in school, went to a great college, got a degree, and married her high school sweetheart. They live in a nice little house and they have a nice dog and nice furniture and they both have great jobs. My sister is everything I couldn't manage to be.

There was no way I was ever going to be better than her, so I just resigned to being lazy and relying on my wit and my memory to get me through school. My family always jokes that I gave back my text books in high school in perfect condition, as if I'd never opened them. But my sister would study for hours, pour over her notes, color-code, organize and re-organize. She would study so late into the night that my mother would actually have to force her to stop.

It took me a long time to realize it, but my sister had to work about ten times harder to do the work which came easily to me in school (except for math, neither of us were good with the math). She would stay up late to finish homework and I'd have it done within half an hour of arriving home, sometimes I wouldn't do it at all.

Because of this, I learned that nothing in life was going to be handed to me. I got the grades I deserved for never sitting down to do my work. Instead of getting an A like Michaela, I'd get a B-. But that wasn't her fault, it was mine for being lazy and not applying myself. My sister showed me that those who work hard were rewarded.

So thank you, Sissy-poo, for showing me up.

Secondly, I'd like to thank you for being the popular one.

In school, my sister was popular and had tons of friends. She was pretty, a cheerleader and a dancer, smart and fun. She was everything I wasn't. In school, I was melancholy, depressed and averse to any social interaction. I'd been picked on pretty much my entire school experience and nothing improved with age.

It wasn't as if my sister could help me - she was 5 years ahead of me in school. She couldn't tell bullies to leave me alone because, though we went to the same school, it was rare we were ever even in the same building.

But as I grew out of my rebellious, anti-social teenage years and into adulthood, I realized my sister had it right on the money. Sure, we all hate people sometimes, but if you deal with them with a smile, they're more likely to be pleasant while interacting with you themselves. It took me forever to figure this one out, but I finally got it.

So thank you, Schnackey, for being the popular one.

Third, I'd like to thank you for being older than me.

So my poor sister had to endure my mother's judgement, and I mean that literally. Mom was the only judge on whether or not we could do something.

"Mom, can you take me to the mall? I wanna walk around with my friends."
"No, Michaela, only nasty kids walk around the mall on Friday nights."

5 years pass.

"Ma, can I go to the mall with Abby? We wanna go to Hot Topic."
"Sure, Lyss, is her mom driving?"

My poor sister was the guinea pig, for lack of a better phrase. If she got my mother to agree to it, then it must not be so dangerous, and therefore, okay. I got my ears pierced younger, I had my first sleepover younger, I was allowed to walk around the mall (sometimes) with friends, and I got a cell phone younger.

Michaela had to hear a lot of "no" purely because she was older. It's that way in a lot of families, and I obviously never complained, but she had every reason to. She had to live with a version of our mother that was twice as strict, and I don't envy her for that.

So thanks Boo Boo, for being older than me.

Fourth, I wanna thank you for constantly pissing me off.

When we were children, my sister and I would fight like cats and dogs. We'd get under each others' skin because we knew exactly what to say and do to get to one another. It was bad. We fought like any set of siblings fights.

But if anyone ever laid a finger on or said a bad word about my sister, Lord help them, they'd have to deal with me first.

My sister was not as...let's say "vocal" as I was growing up. (Read: I had and still have a big mouth and she doesn't.) I can remember a few instances of defending her from jerky boys at church functions, ironically enough. I could pester her and she me until kingdom come, but no one else was allowed to say boo to or about her. That was my job.

Now, my sister is my very best friend. I trust her with things I don't trust my closest other friends with. She knows literally everything about me and she really hasn't pissed me off in years.

So thank you, Schmoops, for pissing me off.

Lastly, I want to thank you for being my sister.

You got stuck with me. I know as I grew up, I annoyed you by being in your room and going through your stuff and trying to hang out with you and your friends or just by existing. I know that we disagreed on a lot of stuff. I know that we fought. But I could not be more thankful to have you in my life.

You are the greatest sister anyone could ask for. I don't know what I'd do without you. I'd definitely be lost in life. You've been there for me when no one else has and you've never betrayed my trust or lied to me. You're intelligent, hilarious, loving, warm and kind. I'm just so damn thankful that we got stuck together.

I know our circumstances are odd, and I know you had to endure a great loss just to be stuck with me as a little sister, but the universe is a weird, crazy place and what came out of it is the best friendship I could've ever asked for. I can't thank you enough for being as wonderful to me as you are, and I really don't know what I'd do if you weren't apart of my life.

I love you lots, Michaela. Don't ever forget it.

Love, Alys