Dear Sister,

It really is weird. If you take a step back and look at the big scheme of life, you only have two more years left in high school. Now I know it probably does not feel like it yet, but I promise those two years will fly by. Soon you will be going to your second to last homecoming, then your last. Your second to last high school football game, and then your last. Then you will be going to your Senior prom and before you know it, you will be walking across the stage at graduation, receiving a diploma, and then packing up your room and memories and moving away from home. Now that you are really thinking about it, it probably seems pretty scary. Believe me, it will be. But during your last two years, you probably will not be thinking much about how fast the time does go by and how scary it will be to leave all you have ever known your whole life and to start over all alone. So I am writing this to you now in order to help prepare you and give you insight now on how to be ready for your last two years of high school.

Let me start by saying: do not stress yourself over taking all advanced classes and stressing yourself about school now. If I had to go back and change anything about my years in high school I would tell myself to not stress myself out in high school as much as I did and to enjoy my time more while I still could. I promise you will do your fair share of stressing in college so do not overwhelm yourself now.

Also, do not waste your time worrying about boys and boy drama. Once you move to college, there will be so many new boys out there that you will forget about all of the ones you cried over in high school. On the other hand, do not waste your time with friend drama. You will be moving away and you will not stay friends with over half of the people you call your friends now. Know who your true friends are now because those are the ones you will keep after you graduate. Do not take the little moments you have with your friends for granted. Those trips to Sonic late at night, or the times you stay up late doing each other's makeup, and the times you find yourselves laughing till you cry over pointless things are the memories you will remember years from now.

Always remember to keep all of the random selfies with your friends, homecoming pictures, and Polaroid pictures that you take now because even if you think they are pointless now, I promise you will want to look back on them later. There are a lot of pictures from a few years in high school that I wish I would have saved that are gone now. So save all of them.

Please do not make the mistake of skipping school dances and football games. I promise you are not too cool for them and you will regret not going to them after you graduate. And I know that you are a social butterfly, but do not be too shy to make new friends and talk to the people you never thought you would talk to. Those will be your closest and some of your dearest friends. Most importantly, do not waste your time worrying about how other people view you or what they think of you. Do not worry whether or not you are "popular" or in the "in crowd" because that will not matter once you cross the stage and receive your diploma. High school is only an incredibly short part of your life. Spend it loving and making memories with your friends and not worrying about stress, drama, and your status with the popular kids. What matters is the time you spend enjoying your last two years and the mark you make on your school and other people's lives while you are in this chapter of your life.

So be strong, be courageous, be spontaneous, have fun, and be you. I miss you like crazy and wish I was there to share your last two years with you, but I know you will have so much fun and do amazing things.

Love,

Your Big Sister in College