My travel buddy, my adventure partner, my biggest target, the girl that I grew up alongside; my sister. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the concept that you’re already nineteen, a freshman in college, and no longer baby balloon. Although it’s sometimes tough to think about, I can’t help but be excited as you take on this next stage of your life. As you enter your nineteenth year, the best advice I could offer you is this:

“When you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance,”

You may not have realized it, but I’ve been preaching this all along. Before leaving you at college, I reminded you to knock on everyone’s door in your residence hall and to say yes to as many things as possible in your first week there. It’s about getting to know people, and experiencing something for all that it’s worth, these are going to be the best years of your life. I’m jealous that you still have 3 more.

I hope you dance more than you will remember. Dancing has the ability to cure all of the stress that the weekday classes has caused you. I have found that my friends here often need to remind me of this, and I’m so thankful for that. You will find yourself wanting nothing more than to go to bed some Fridays after a long week, but you must remember to dance.

I hope you dance when you do well. It is important to celebrate your accomplishments and to show appreciation for yourself. Set goals and crush them, and don’t forget to celebrate when you have. If you don’t reward yourself, it will be very hard to motivate yourself to continue to do well. You can only go up from here.

I hope you dance when nobody’s watching. You don’t always need to be at a party to dance, sometimes the best time is when you’re completely alone. Often times I think nobody’s watching, but I’ve been caught, and that’s ok too because you’ll make them laugh. In my opinion dancing by yourself is the ultimate sign of true happiness.

Lastly, I hope you dance with your best friends. These people are your lifetime friends, and you get to live with them right now. Dance with them as much as you can. Some of my most cherished memories include lip-sync battles and ditching parties to have dance marathons with 80's music because that’s more fun anyway. I hope that you can make similar memories of your own.

Don’t ever sit it out.