When I look back to the not-so-pretty days of mix-matched clothing and neon knee-high socks, I also think about the person that was by my side during all of those glorious moments singing Ke$ha and Justin Bieber into inflatable microphones on my kitchen floor as well, and I am so grateful that it was you that I got to make all of those horrifying and humiliating memories with, because I’ll cherish them for the rest of my life.

I’ll never forget the countless sleepovers we had and all of the fun we had every single time. It was never a matter of if you were coming over on a Friday night, it was a matter of when you were coming over and what we would be doing when you got here. It never mattered, though. We spent our time creating nonsense amongst ourselves, and we stayed entertained just being in each other’s company. I adored you so much. I felt so lucky to have someone who wanted to be in my life as much as I wanted to be in theirs, and looking back today I’m still lucky. I will always be lucky that you were, without a doubt, a massive factor in shaping me into the person I am today.

(But seriously, thank you for teaching me to lose the logo printed t-shirts.)

As we both started to get older and we watched each other grow, our lives slowly began going in different directions. Being a year older than me in school, you were starting high school while I was still in middle school, and your life started going through some big changes. I remember how excited I was for you! All of the “Have a good first day of school LOL I love you!!!!” posts on each other’s Facebook walls, and the Skype calls about all of your exciting cool older kid stuff that I couldn’t wait to do when I got to high school and a whole bunch of other nonsense, we did to try to keep in touch when life got crazy for us. But unfortunately, we really weren’t able to keep up as much as we wanted to.

Planning sleepovers became impossible. Between my sister’s Friday night football games for her high school marching band performances, and because you were, what I’d like to consider, a “pro volleyball player” for your own high school team. Needless to say, schedules conflicted, and life got busy. It happens, but I wish it hadn’t.

I look at where we’re both at in our lives now, and my heart sings. I’m so proud of all that you do. Look at you: you’re astonishing! You are so remarkable in all that you do. Every accomplishment you’ve made, and continue to make, blows me away end on end again. You have grown to be so successful already in this beautiful life you are living, as I always knew you would, and you will only continue to grow and flourish.

As far as those two little pre-teens that often went by ‘Tarzan and Jane’—singing at the top of their lungs, jumping on beds, staying up all hours of the night, talking in a plethora of various accents, making friends with lifeguards, creating Facebook fan pages, and making YouTube videos that we pray never see the light of day—one of those girls thanks you for giving her a lifetime of memories and a childhood that she will always remember.

I miss you always, but I’m never far away. You’re such a beautiful human being and I love you with all of my heart and soul. I hope you never forget that.

I am always cheering for you, love. There is nothing that you cannot do.