The summer after I turned eight years old, I received my best friend. I was so young, I didn't realize before then that I was missing something so significant in my life. A sisterhood is a complicated thing; one minute you're fighting and the next it's as if nothing even happened. I don't know how to explain it, but there's just something about your sister that simultaneously makes you love and despise them at moments.

When you give a girl a sister, you are giving her someone to confide in when she feels there is no one left to turn to. You are giving her the chance to teach and to learn from. You are giving her someone to hang out with at any time of day. You are giving her someone who will want to follow in her footsteps and make her want to be a better person. You are giving her someone who holds qualities you aspire to have. You are giving her a lifelong best friend.

Despite our age difference, my sister and I have a bond that I know a lot of people only wish to have with their siblings. She has and always will be the person I will fiercely protect if need be because as a sister, I promised I would always be there for her. I love ya to the moon and back, sis.