You can’t pick your family. We all know this to be true. Even so, I wouldn’t trade my family for the world. I have wonderful parents and an amazing little sister that I love more than anything. However, sometimes, you meet someone in life who you could’ve sworn was meant to be a part of your actual family. A friend who you become so close to, that it just seems natural to consider them a member of your family. Maybe sometimes, you can pick your family.

I remember moving to a brand new town back in middle school. My first day in my new house I noticed that there was a girl that looked around my age who lived in the house across the street, and I couldn’t wait to meet her. It didn’t take long for this neighbor to become my friend. Soon after, we were absolutely inseparable. Growing up is hard to do and in going through it together, she became my very best friend. Riding our bikes around the neighborhood for hours every night in the summer, having week-long sleepovers where all we ate was pizza, and secretly dying our hair purple behind my mom’s back turned into crying over our first breakups, graduating from high school together, and planning our futures. We’ve seen each other at our very lowest points, and been there for the best. Somewhere throughout all of this, my best friend became my sister.

Just because we aren’t actual blood-related sisters, doesn’t mean we don’t ever fight. Even though it doesn’t always seem like it, fighting is a good thing. It means someone cares enough about you to tell you when your wrong. When you make a mistake, friends will be there for you to make you feel better, but sisters will be the ones to help you understand what you did wrong and help you to fix it. That is the key to becoming a better person, and that’s what family is for. People change people, and I believe that life has a funny way of bringing you exactly what you need, when you need it.

We needed each other to become the people we are today.

You have always been the toughest, funniest, most genuine, beautiful, and sincere person that I know, and if everyone was a little more like you, I think the world would be a better place. I know that my life is.

A sister is someone who you only want the best for. Someone whose success is just as exciting for you as it is for them. Someone for whom you would do anything and nothing they could ever do could make you stop loving them. Sisters are with you for life, and there’s no one I would rather have by my side than you.