Dear Little,

Welcome to the best year of your life. There’s a certain magic to the first year of college, and I already know you’re going to get the best out of it (and the best big, of course). It’s only been a little while since the semester began, and we have a lot of time ahead of us, but I want to give you a sneak peek of what’s to come.

It might seem silly to compare a big/little relationship to a marriage, but both are big (pun intended) commitments. You might not realize it yet, but there’s a lot more to a big than just gifts and cute pictures. I’ve been waiting for you (as creepy as that sounds), and I’ve been thinking about what kind of big I want to be. So here is a list of my vows to you:

I promise to spoil you as best as I can with my small bank account and even smaller crafting abilities. I promise to give you the best I can offer not only in spirit gear, but also in my support, in whatever ways I can.

I promise to answer all of your freshman questions with patience. I can’t promise to always have the answers, but I can promise to bother everyone I know until I do.

I promise to make an effort. I promise to know you and love you. I promise to schedule dates with you. I promise to make time for you and to show you affection as best as I can. For me, that means I’ll Snapchat you randomly, send ten texts at once, and stalk you on social media pretty frequently. I promise you’ll get used to it.

I promise to laugh with you. I promise to tell you my worst jokes and to share your best ones. I promise to create memories with you and brag about how great you are to my friends. I promise to take embarrassing pictures of you when you aren’t looking and to let you delete the ones you don’t want to see ever again.

I promise to listen to you. I promise to do my best to understand you. I promise to never judge you, and I promise to always give you the benefit of a doubt. I promise to let you make your mistakes and help you patch up any fallouts along the way. I promise to respect your decisions, your preferences, and your beliefs. I promise to see you not just as my little, but also as your own person and my equal.

I promise to keep you accountable. I promise to call you out when you’re at your worst and I promise to remind you of all I love about you. I promise to build you up when you are at your lowest, and to keep you humble when you are feeling a little too cocky for your own good. I promise to keep pushing you to be the best version of yourself at all times.

I promise to be your ride or die. I promise to make sure you never feel alone. I promise to keep you laughing. I promise to enjoy life with you and to complain with you. I promise to honor the sisterhood that brought us together with you. I promise to give you your space when you need it, and to be there to hold your hand when you want it.

I promise to be the big you deserve.

Well… I promise to try.