Dear boys,
Some of the first memories I have involve holding you guys when you were babies. I loved to hold you and feed you and help mom out with you guys. I felt that as your older sister, it was my job to help take care of you and make sure nothing bad happened to you guys. You might have been too young to remember these things, but some of my favorite early memories from the three of us include the small period of time where it was cool to have an older sister and follow her around. Before girls had cooties and sisters were gross, you two followed me around and always wanted to do what I was doing. At times it got annoying for me, but looking back on it, I kind of miss having the two of you walking around with painted fingernails, playing dress up and calling me sissy. That stage definitely did not last long enough for me.
It soon turned into the very long stage of girls having cooties (ew, who would want those?) and older sisters being annoying. The two of you began making your own friends and doing your own things without bothering me or my friends...most of the time. While girls your age had cooties, it seemed that all of my friends did not and you two loved to bother us and try to get into whatever we were doing. Annoying me and my friends somehow turned into practicing how to flirt as the two of you got older. One of you learned very quickly how to be a little flirt because of practicing on my friends, so on behalf of them, you're welcome.
I know, I'm kind of embarrassing you guys, right? Well trust me, I could have been a lot worse, but I'm not finished yet!
Now, I'm 20, and you guys are 17 and 15, so we clearly aren't little kids anymore and it would weird if I made you play dress up with me again (don't worry, I still won't have you do it). Now you guys play dress up with me in a different way. When I need help figuring out if something looks good, if I should buy something, or when I'm purging my closet, I know I can always look to the two of you for advice. One of you will usually say you don't care and will clearly be annoyed by my question, but the other is helpful most of the time.
Instead of flirting with my friends and annoying us, you guys flirt with your own friends or your girlfriends, and annoy them instead. You both still hang out with me and my friends from time to time, but that's changed from playing barbies and drawing with chalk to ordering pizza and binging a show on Netflix.
Instead of me looking out for my baby brothers, you guys look out for me. You tell me when a guy I date isn't worth it (even though I don't always listen). You tell me if it's cold/hot/raining before I leave the house. You tell me when a spider is near me and nine times out of 10 you save me from it. You tell me when there are good Pokemon around, and you tell me when the cat is being evil. You won't say "I love you, sissy" like you used to, but I accept all these things as your new and grown up way of letting me know you love me.
I don't say it often, mainly because you guys will shrug it off if I do, but I'm so proud of the young men you two have grown up to be. I have seen you two grow up from crying babies in diapers to a senior in high school with a decent job and a killer plan for his future, and a sophomore in high school that's just getting out of his awkward stage and is the nicest boy once you get to know him. The two of you have vastly different attitudes towards things, and at times you clash with each other (and with me), but I wouldn't have it any other way.
I am so proud of you two and cannot wait to watch you grow up even more!
