Dear Sissy,

I loved growing up imagining our weddings together. As innocent little girls, romance and weddings seemed to enter our young brains a lot. Remember twirling around in Mama’s wedding dress when we were kids? Remember playing MASH in the car, and we’d choose our top three choices of husbands and wedding dress colors? Remember planning weddings for our Barbie dolls? Hopefully one day we will both experience a wedding of our own for real.

Marriage still seems so far away. You especially know how utterly single I am at the moment, but if ever I get married, hands-down you would be my maid of honor, if you would do me the honor. This letter is written to you so that you have a heads-up, so that you understand that if I were to get married tomorrow, it wouldn’t be hard to choose my Maid of Honor. (Sorry to the other lovely ladies that are my best friends, but I think you saw this one coming) My whole life you’ve been more than a sister, even more than a best friend. You’re a part of me, we have the same blood, the same thoughts, the same desires. If I ever lost you, I think it would be very hard to find me again. That’s why I need you by my side when I’m standing at the altar, waiting to become another character in another chapter in my life. Because you are the character in my story that makes my story what it has been. You’ve been through every chapter that I have, now be with me through this new one.

My one prayer in life is that if I do get married, you and I will remain as close as we were when we were little. I hope you can befriend the idea that our family is changing but you and I aren’t. Befriend your future brother-in-law. I want to be close with your future hubby as well. FINALLY we get brothers! And eventually, hopefully, after you stand by me as the Maid of Honor, after my man and I are husband and wife, you will have nieces and nephews. Then will you be another type of maid—Aunty Maid of Fun. You will be a great aunt, sissy.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You’re still in high school and I’m just a freshman in college. My board on Pinterest of wedding ideas is full, but I still haven’t found a man who deserves to become a part of our wonderful family, to spend the rest of my life with, to be a great brother-in-law to you. Say it never happens, say I never find a mister: You’ll still be Maid of Honor in my heart. My sidekick. My sister.

Lots of Love,

Big Sissy