When you read this, don't get cocky -- you still also manage to be my least favorite person in the world, sometimes. However, you really are my best friend, and here is why.

It is not always so easy growing up with a sister so close in age, as anyone with one will tell you. As the younger sibling, when I was very little, my sister liked me a lot. I guess I was cute and not yet getting in the way, so to her I was still okay. Between the ages of one an eight, we were golden. I'm not exactly sure what went wrong, but when she entered middle school, that was it for me. The next seven or so years consisted of what felt like never ending fights -- both verbal and physical -- that usually led to one of us in tears (almost always me).

The constant tormenting, not allowing me to hang out with her and her friends, and embarrassing me in public as often as she could probably scarred me in more ways than I am even aware of. However, if that is what I had to go through (although I probably didn't) in order to gain the relationship I have with her today, then I am thankful for those psychologically scarring years.

Without her, I would not be the person that I am today. Having an older sister is like having the world's best manual on how to grow up. Whenever I was scared or confused about how to do something, or what to expect, I would always look to her because I knew she had already gone through it. When I was little, I was pretty conspicuous about following her every move. If she spun around in a circle, I did too. If she threw a doll at my dad, I followed suit. As I got older my mirroring got slightly less evident, but whether or not she knew I was doing it, or if I even knew for that matter, she was always my leader.

This same concept holds true today, although in a much different way. Since I always had my sister to guide me, even when I was nervous about growing up and experiencing new things, I could always find comfort in knowing that everything was going to turn out okay. As I got older, It was because of this safety net she created that I was able to use her as a guide but also start to veer away from her path and begin forging my own.

Now, we go to different colleges and I talk to her more infrequently than when we both lived under the same roof, but our conversations are always more meaningful and the relationship we have formed is one that I would not trade the world for. She is the first person I want to tell when something exciting happens in my life and the first person I look to for advice. She knows me better than anyone else, and I cherish her opinion more than I think she really knows.

Although, there were definitely a couple of unnecessary rough years, and a few memories I could do without (like when I was five, and she pretended to be the ghost of

Christmas past and followed me around the house with a butter knife). But what's more important is the relationship we have today and all of the, hopefully less traumatic, memories to come. So, to my older sis -- thank you for being the worlds best tour guide, sister, and friend. Love you!