Dear mini me,

I want to start off by saying how much of a privilege it has been to be the one that you looked up to throughout the high school years we had shared together. And even though I am graduated and in college now, I still think about you all of the time.

Being your “big sister” for so many years has permanently engrained this sense of worry in me - I worry about how you are doing in school, if you are getting along with your friends, and mainly if you are happy. I know that you are old enough to handle your own problems and I don’t have any doubt that you are doing just fine, but there will always be a part of me that is incredibly protective over you.

I know that you always say how thankful you are to have had me as a mentor, but I don’t think you realise that I am the one who is thankful.

You made me want to be a better person, someone to set the right example for you. I wanted you to see that through all of the failed assignments you stayed up late doing and the mean girls you thought were your friends, you would get through it and you would be better because of it.

On days I felt that the whole world was against me, I could look at you and be reminded that not everything was so bad. I always felt wanted and needed when you were around, and feeling needed can do so much for a person on their bad days.

You are the little sister I have always wanted, and you are a friend I know I can always count on. You may be younger than me, but you have a soul that is older than your years. You are kind, and funny, and so smart, and the world is better because you are in it - my world is better because you are in it.

To be completely honest, I think I learned more from you than you ever learned from me. So thank you for choosing me, because guiding you through all of your joys and your tears was the greatest gift I could have ever been given.

I miss your sweet hugs, and how excited you always looked to see me. I miss hearing you yell my name from down the hallway, and I miss our summer ice cream dates.

There will be days when you feel like nothing is going right and there is nobody in your corner. Just know that I would trade anything to be there for you through that, and even 200 miles away, I am always by your side.

Keep on pushing through, the rest of your high school years will fly by so quickly and I want you to enjoy every minute of it. I’m so proud of the person that you are becoming. Thank you for being a huge part of the person that I became.