To My Dearest Sister

To my dearest sister,

Being eleven years apart in age is difficult

Although this age gap never got in our way

Because we were facing new experiences together

Just, not quite the same type of experiences

As I was going off to my first day of kindergarten

You were learning how to drive a car

As I was learning how to multiply numbers

You were preparing to go off to college.

Oh but to my second mother,

You were all I ever knew when I was young

Who else would do my hair

Or play dress up with me

Who else would help me with my homework

Or watch all my favorite Disney TV shows with me?

Who else would teach me how to do my make up

Or how to deal with boys and break ups?

And to my first ever friend,

We always did what all best friends would do

It didn't matter if I was only ten and you were twenty-one

You would play with my toys with me

Go on walks around the neighborhood

Play with the dozens of hula hoops we kept in the shed

We did everything together.

And of course I could share all my secrets with you

I never had to worry about you telling on me to our mother

Unless of course I stole your last pack of Gushers candy you always hid under your bed.

And to my best teacher,

You taught me everything I ever had to learn about life

You taught me to be kind

To put others before myself

To love unconditionally

To be the best I could ever be every day

You always believed in me when I couldn't believe in myself

You taught me to embrace all my flaws

Even if that meant loving my buck teeth

And my overly-magnified eyes through my thick lens glasses

You taught me so much, big sister

And you have yet to teach me so much more.

To my dearest sister,

I am now seveteen and you are twenty-nine

You are happily married and ready to have children

And living thousands of miles away on the other side of the country

While I am finishing up my senior year of high school

And deciding which college I want to attend

Even though we are so far apart

And our contact is limited to only texts and phone calls

You still continue to teach me new things every day

From the same things you have done 11 years ago from now.

I strive to follow in your footsteps

Because I was always that little sister that "copied" her big sister

But that's because following you always lead me to success

So thank you for everything you have taught me

And everything you have yet to teach me

 I truly would be lost without you in my life

Because you have been such a huge influence on me

And I just couldn't be the person I am today without you, my big sister.