From where you are standing, it seems as if a year will last forever. You think that you will spend hours studying for tests, that you will stay up late watching musicals with your best friends and you think that you will spend several days looking for a very special dress so you can dance the night away one last time. You will do all of that; but kiddo, it won't last as long as you think it will.

As your older sister, I have had the joy of watching you grow up. I have been your number one supporter (right behind mom and dad) as well as your best friend. I have never tried to keep you from living in the moment or hold you back, I will continue to do and to be all of those things, but a little differently now. Kiddo, my beautiful little sister, I urge you to savor each moment of your senior year.

Your senior year will be full of amazing adventures and stressful moments, but I know how strong of a person you are. Throughout all of your high school career, you have become an inspirational young woman to so many people, including me. In fact, the young woman who walked into New Albany High School in July 2014 is not the same young woman that will walk across the stage June 2018.

I am so proud to call you my little sister and I am so excited to see how you excel this year. Kiddo, it's your time to shine! I want you to jump at each opportunity you get and to enjoy each day that you walk through those glass doors. It will sound weird, but take pictures of everything and be that annoying person who always wants a group picture whenever your friends go out somewhere. Create an album on Facebook just for this year, because one day you will be in my shoes and you'll miss it all. Even Dr. Suess says, "Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory."

Make me proud, bulldog. I love you.