Dearest Sis,

I always wanted a little sister. And to be perfectly honest, I was always kind of bitter about the fact that I never got one. When I was younger, I wanted somebody I could teach to braid hair and do makeup. Someone that could be a little mini-me. See, when you have a younger sister you can dress them up, you can boss them around, you can do all the things that siblings do and still have your built-in best friend. Little sisters, in theory, were #goals for me as a small child. And then, I got older, and I still wished I could have a younger sister. Someone I could talk to about boys and about friends and just about everything.

And then you came along. And at first I had no idea we would become as close as we did. I saw you around, I knew who you were in passing. But never did I once think, “oh yeah, we’re going to be best friends.”

And then I decided to go talk to you. And then I kept talking to you and I kept hanging out with you and all of a sudden I realized…here it was. What I had always dreamed of.

I may not have gotten to go through all those early years of sibling torment. And maybe that’s a good thing, come to think of it. Yet here, maybe a few years late, but here nonetheless, was my little sister. And honestly you topped anything I could have possibly imagined. We’re kind of #siblinggoals, really. I mean, we are kind of adorable. We even look similar. I’m convinced that if we just told everybody we were actually sisters biologically, nobody would question it. We have totally gotten to the point where it’s beyond believable. I actually refer to you as my little sister when I bring you up because that’s way easier than explaining our friendship.

And our friendship. Oh man, that is truly one for the books. We have seen it all together. Drama in every single department; boys, friends, family, faith -- we have honestly seen each other through all of it. It’s only been five years, but it feels like I’ve known you for my whole life. We may not have “grown up together” in the classic sense, but girl, we grew up together.

And (boy am I about to get mushy here) I am so beyond proud of who you have grown up to be. You have grown up to be everything a young girl should hope to be; incredibly strong yet wonderfully gentle, confident but still retaining humility and absolutely gorgeous to boot. I can’t even believe where we are. We are both adults now. We’re both at school very far away from each other. We each have apartments and responsibilities and whole lives from which the other is dismally absent. But even now, when we are so far away from each other, you are still a huge part of me.

You’re still a huge part of my life and I’m still a huge part of your's because we made that commitment to sisterhood. We know how much we’ve been through together and how much we mean to each other and we are fully aware that our lives will have to be linked for many years to come. It isn’t even a question anymore if we are going to stay in touch. You are the one person that I absolutely must see whenever I go home. And even though I don’t really have the time or energy to stay up to date on my friends from back home, I stay updated on your life because I want to.

I guess what I wanted to say is, I am so glad we are sisters from other misters. I can’t even picture my life without you. I miss you, I am proud of you, and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

All my love,

Your big kid sis.