Dear Baby Sister,

You aren't really a baby anymore considering you are at least three inches taller than me but just go with it. It's almost 10 am and I'm sitting in my quiet dorm room. Its that type of quiet that is peaceful but takes some time to get used to because we both know our house is far from quiet. It can't be quiet when we stay up till 3 am streaming YouTube karaoke videos and singing...badly. It can't be when I wake you up at 4:30 am to help me find a huge bug that disappeared in my room. I'm sitting in my dorm room two hours away doing things like homework and eating Lucky Charms straight from the box, because I need to wash my dishes, while you are sitting in class in the same high school that I was just in only a few months ago. We are both the class of 2020. It's kind of adorable.

People will tell you to enjoy high school while it lasts. They are right and wrong. High school is fun with football games (shout out to the kid you saw eat a whole glue stick at a game last year), homecoming and making new friends but high school isn't everything. The negative things that come with high school seem like the end of the world in the moment but they aren't. Stay out of drama because it's a waste of your time. Your classes will get harder and your motivation might get lower but push through it. Don't forget that your grades are important but don't let them stress you out too much. It's okay to take a break and relax a little.

The most important thing to remember is to stay yourself and remember who your friends are. You've been a high school freshman for about two months, your friends now may not be your friends in the next year or even the next few months. If someone decides they don't want to be your friend, let them. People that really want to be your friend will always be there so don't get worked up over temporary friends.

Make friends with people in your classes even if they are just in-class friends, that's okay.

All the rules and regulations over the most trivial things can make school a total drag but it can be fun if you make it fun.

Even though we are four years apart and you are supposed to be the "annoying little sister", I miss making up songs spontaneously and binge watching Teen Wolf for 24 hours to make sure we finished season five before college.

In four years, you'll be a freshman in college. You'll be glad to be done with high school. You'll start another four year long chapter in life and the four years that got you to that point will finally show you that it was all worth it.

So with this little sister, I'll tell you to enjoy high school. Get good grades while it's easy, keep your friends close and never stop being who you are.

Love,

Your college Big Sister