First off, I’d like to say that, although you never asked for me, thanks for embracing me as your little sister. Thanks for the times that you’ve sacrificed nights out, having your own bedroom and part of your sanity just to help me out. Even though there are definitely times that you've wanted to slap me, you’ve always put up with my nonsense while staying (relatively) calm even though I couldn’t.
When I was younger, I always looked up to you two. You were beautiful, confident and funny and I never thought I would ever be able to be like that. Now I’m older, and I still look up to both of you. You are even more beautiful and confident and I admire how you have always been so comfortable being exactly who you are. The humor has stayed pretty much the same and, although its been many years, I’m still not entirely okay with being the target of your jokes. I go to you when I need advice or when I need to laugh (or when I need someone to buy me brunch.) I go to you when I need a place to sleep after a night out in NYC doesn’t go exactly to plan.
It was hard when you two were in high school together. Being the youngest, I always felt left out. You two were so close; closer than I ever thought I would be with either of you. To put it simply, I felt like the awkward new kid getting left out of the popular group. Once I started to grow up, I realized that you two were so close because of all your shared experiences and, gradually, I started sharing those experiences, too. Once I hit high school, I was able to join into conversations about final exams and joke about that one teacher that everyone had a huge thing for. I’m so glad that now that I’m in college, I have even more shared experiences with you. I’m no longer stuck trying to chime in on conversations that I have no idea about.
Now that you’re both living close, I feel even closer to you. Its comforting to know that if I ever need an escape, I have not one, but two people I love that are here with me. Even if I go to your apartment on a Sunday to watch The O.C. for seven hours, get dinner, get ice cream and then end up sleeping there because its already 9 p.m. and I don’t want to take the subway home, its still good just to have an escape. I do know that even when we don’t all live within an hour from each other, it probably won’t be much different.
I’d just like to say thank you. Thank you for being there for me when it felt like no one else was. Thank you for not letting me out of the house in a horrible outfit. Thank you for taking care of me the times that I went a little overboard at the party. Thank you for knowing my imperfections and loving me anyway. Thank you for not lying to me about my freshman 15 and actually trying to help me get rid of it. Thank you for letting me borrow your clothes (or steal, depending on how you view it.) But most of all, thank you for both being able balance treating me as an equal and treating me as your baby sister.
I know you’re probably going to make fun of me, but I’m getting used to it.
Also, I forgive you for telling me I was adopted. And I want my green shirt back.
