You will not read or fully understand this for many years, but I want to thank you anyways.

Thank you for giving me an excuse to act like a kid. Thank you for not letting me watch my favorite Disney movies alone. Thank you for giving me someone to eat ice cream with. Thank you for keeping me company at home. Thank you for helping me clean the house for Mom and Dad. Thank you for always getting something out of my car for me. Thank you for making me feel like the cool big sis. Thank you for eating my cooking even when I do not think it tastes good. Thank you for letting me spoil you with sweets. Thank you for telling me you love me when I leave the house. Thank you for helping me clean my room, it would take much longer without you. Thank you for letting me drag you shopping and for being enthusiastic. Thank you for telling me I look pretty. Thank you for giving me a reason to play with Legos. Thank you for being curious and allowing me to teach you. Thank you for mostly being quiet while I sleep in. Thank you for participating in pool days with me. Thank you for never letting things get dull. Thank you for helping me surprise Mom and Dad. Thank you for being silly and making me laugh at the simplest things. Thank you for the countless memories.

Most of all thank you for making me a better person. Because of you I work harder so I can be an appropriate role model for you. Often times you have depended on me to look after you, feed you, or just keep you entertained and in this way you have taught me responsibility. When you are grumpy, rude, or just feel like acting like a bratty I still love you. You test my patience more often than not, but for that I thank you. It is what makes me a more patient women. One day, many years from now when I have kids the patience I have developed will be a great asset.

If I could put big sister as experience on my resume I would. Although you are younger than me, I have learned a great deal through you. I have learned to be a teacher, when you have trouble with your homework, or are not quite sure how to fold the laundry or tie your shoes. I have learned to cook many things due to your willingness to always be my little taste testers. I know how to shop for groceries while simultaneously keeping you entertained, surely this will pay off when I have a family of my own. I am a nurse because you always seem to have some cut or bump that needs tending to.

In the future, I hope to coach you and share the love of sports I have. I hope that you will feel you can always find a friend in me. When or if you feel you cannot go to our parents I hope that you feel you can come to me. I look forward to cheering you on at games. I look forward to you seeing me graduate college in hope that you will do the same. There are many things I look forward to with you. It will be a pleasure to watch you mature, and grow into young adults. I hope and pray for the very best for you. I will be here all the way. So, to wrap this up, a thank you in advance: Thank you for the many more lessons I will learn from you, the ones I will be able to teach you, and the memories we have yet to make. Beyond all I have to thank you for, know that I love you.

And for all of my readers with younger siblings, I hope you feel similar. Be grateful for that bond, it is a special one.