Dear Little Sis,

Two years after I was born you came along and changed everything. I went from being the youngest to being the middle child. I went from only having an older brother to having a little sister too.

You shook up everything. You were the little chunk who played in the trash and the spitfire that always spoke her mind (you didn't have a filter). You have been so full of life since the day you were born.

Now we are here. You are graduating high school and about to make some of the most important decisions in your life. I didn't get you a card because I didn't think that everything I wanted to say to you would fit on a card. So instead, I got you an article. These are my hopes for you as you graduate high school:

I hope you trust God.

I know you love Him. I have watched you grow into an amazing Christian woman, and I have watched you be a leader to the younger girls at church. I hope and I pray that when things get too much you trust in Him.

I hope you have fun.

College is tiring and exhausting. There will be a lot of school work and it won't be easy. However, it is also some of the most fun you will ever have in your life. Sometimes it's worth staying up until three in the morning and accidentally sleeping through your 8 a.m. the next day. Just don't do it every day. Also don't tell mom I said that.

I hope you don't sit on the sidelines.

You have never been one to sit and watch, but I still wanted to include this in the list. In life we make a lot of choices. One of the greatest choices we make is whether or not we are going to be spectators or get in the game. I hope you get in the game.

I hope you know how much I love you.

We fight. We bicker. You take my clothes and I get mad. I take your clothes and you get mad, but I hope you will never doubt how much I love you. You are my built-in best friend, confidante and I don't know what I would do in this life without you.

I hope you never lose your spark.

Like I said, you have been so full of life since day one. I hope you never lose that. You have such a way of brightening the lives that you come in contact with. I hope you never let the world extinguish that spark.

One final piece of advice, this life is what you make it. You could be having an awful day, but if you focus on the good things that happen that day (no matter if they are big or small) it could turn your whole day around.

To wrap this all up, I am proud of you. I am proud of the person you are. I might be your older sister, but there are many times that I look up to you, and I'm not saying that just because you are taller than me. You're going to do great things. There is no doubt in my mind about that.

I love you to the moon and back, and I always will.

Love,
Sissy