From a young age, I always wanted a younger sister. Years went by, seven years to be exact. I then waited for what seemed to be the longest nine months of my life and as soon as you came, my life instantly changed. When you arrived into this big world, I began to think of you as my own. I was seven years old, carrying you around everywhere, rocking you, playing with you nonstop and taking care of you the best way a seven-year-old knew how. No matter what you did, all I knew is that you were my little sister I had always dreamed of and you made me so happy. Nothing could ever come between the two of us.

The biggest blessing in this journey I call my childhood was that I could watch and remember every moment of you growing up. I can vividly remember those funny moments when you started to talk and the phases you went through as a child. I now also have the gift to help teach you how to drive and have some of those hard conversations you may not want to have with the rents. Although I am in college now, with today's technology distance will never keep us from getting closer. And I PROMISE never to stop bothering you about your life no matter how many times you tell me how embarrassing I am.

As I watch you grow more every year, I get teary-eyed. It is as if your life is a movie I am watching it, but each scene comes faster and faster every time I blink. I can only imagine how this will feel with my children someday. You are genuinely the spitting image of myself, and although I was a much shyer child than you and we do have pretty different personalities, you have taught me so much. You taught me how to laugh when I thought I couldn't, love unconditionally, and to live freely. I hope as the years come and you grow older; I teach you just as many things as well.

I hope to someday travel the world with you and show you all of my favorite places. To help you move into your first college dorm and answer the phone late at night when you are homesick just like I was. I hope to be there to comfort you when you have your first heartbreak and to give you advice on how to deal with the inevitable mean girls. I look ahead and think of all the crucial moments we will have together and I cannot wait.

When you are the maid of honor at my wedding or when you graduate from high school, I dream of these times. After all, is said and done, there is one thing I know for sure. I would not trade that for the world; I would give ANYTHING to be your big sister in any life. Thank you for being not only my sister but my best friend, the one who never ceases to put a smile on my face. I promise to always stick by your side and help you through whatever comes your way. I love you as more than just a sister; I love you as a sister, a caregiver and as a person who adores you more than you know. I will love you forever.

Love always,

Your Big (embarrassing but loving) Sister