To my sista from the same mista,

Hey, girl hey! Sorry, you know I had to put that in there somewhere! I miss you so much while I'm away at college, along with mama and daddy of course, but you especially.

I miss you the most probably because you've always been there for me, in a different position; you're not quite a parent, but a best friend nonetheless.

You've been my floormate since I moved upstairs after finally beating that childhood fear of being away from mom and dad, even though they were only a floor away.

You dealt with me coming in your room when I was younger and waking you up when a nighttime storm scared me too much. If you ever heard me start to go down the stairs in the middle of the night, you'd make sure to ask if everything was okay.

Even though you're only nine-and-a-half years older than me, you somehow used to get mistaken for mama when you'd push me around in a stroller. We never knew why people thought that, other than the fact that we've always acted older than we are, for the most part.

Thinking about it now, whoever asked you that must've known we were going to be super close and thought a bond like that could only be worthy of a mother and her daughter.

Well, we proved that view wrong, didn't we?

I can't say how thankful I am to God for giving me you as my older sister. First of all, He knew I'd need an older sibling to teach me how things work from a different perspective than our parents could've.

He also must've known beforehand that I'd be pretty serious and pessimistic most of the time, so I needed your humor and optimism to help me through hard times.

Also, once I grew older and we could start sharing closets, that was a pretty great feat of sisterhood (even though I take advantage of that opportunity more than you usually do)!

But, other than the partner in crime living just across the hall and getting to borrow (and sometimes steal, sorry) clothes, having a sister meant having someone to look up to.

I was the typical younger sister who, for the most part, wanted to be exactly like her big sister.

I started dancing because I saw how much fun you had at competitions. I joined the show choir in 8th grade because I remembered all the pretty costumes and the huge group of friends you seemed to always be surrounded by. I even wanted to go to the same college as you and follow in your footsteps as a teacher.

We can see that the last thing has morphed a bit because I'm at "the other LU," as we say and, instead of going to school for Elementary Education, I chose Secondary Education.

We have our differences and times when we bicker or disagree on something, but, for the most part, we're a lot alike.

So, thank you for not throwing a fit when mama and daddy told you I was going to be part of the family. And thanks for the countless laughs, embarrassing moments, sage advice, and reminders of God's greatness.

Love,

Bryzie (also, thanks for the killer nickname)