Thank you.

Thank you for bringing me cupcakes at 5:30 AM on my eighteenth birthday and for calling me at 11 PM on a school night and laying in the middle of the road with me while we catch snowflakes on our tongues.Thank you for rollerblading down the street while wearing a cardboard box and for never being more than a five-minute walk away. Thank you for always having a spot for me at the dinner table.

Thank you for holding my hand as we drive and for sending me every meme on your camera roll. Thank you for FaceTiming me during spring break last year, telling me you’d made your college decision and accepted your offer from a college 2,883 miles away.

Thank you for being brave.

Thank you for cutting your hair short just because you felt like it - for knowing you deserved better and acting on it without hesitation or fear. Thank you for sharing your dog with me. Thank you for both pushing me to recognize my own self-worth and pushing me over in the snow.

For the past seven years, you have never once told me I snored. You forget to respond to texts, you get grouchy when you’re tired, and you eat spinach like it’s the best thing since pockets. You’re quirky, and unapologetic about it. You have never, ever for a second stopped being my number one fan. There are days where we don’t speak; sometimes a week or two goes by and I haven’t heard from you but I have learned not to panic – that no matter what happens, I’ll always be there to squeeze you into a big hug when you come home.

You are more courageous than I could ever dream of being. You know how to go after what you want and you don’t stop until you’re where you need to be. There are mornings where I wake up and miss you so much that I can feel it in my chest.

I am so proud of the person you are. You have shown me what it feels like to stand up in a Jeep with the top off in the middle of summer, yelling to Walk the Moon with our arms flung into the sky. You have taught me how to dance like crazy people in the middle of Zumba, ignoring the instructor and jumping around to our own rhythm. You have taught me to be a little more daring. Thank God, we had helmets on when you made me tie a scarf to the back of a bicycle and stand on a skateboard while you biked down a hill as fast as you could. Thank you for teaching me the value of a little adrenaline.

Through the quiet moments together, we don’t say all of this, because you already know. I’m saying it anyway.

I love you.