I know the sister bond is strong because each day I look down at my left-hand wrist and see that turquoise bracelet, I'm reminded of you - of the way we couldn't be any more different from each other if we tried, but of the way there's a corner in each of our hearts for the other.
I'm reminded of the way two souls and two hearts and two minds can grow up apart from the other, how they can form different opinions and ideas and preferences, how their lives can separate at the fork in the road, yet how they still belong to each other, even after all these years.
I love you like my own. Because though our blood may differ, our hearts have always been the same, they've always been tied together with the stuff that makes a family, the stuff that makes a sister - a love deep in your bones - one that you've known your entire life, a loyalty that knows no wrongdoings, no bounds, no questions, catfights and tears, polishing off bags of chips and candy in one sitting and trips that would only be fun when taken together.
I love you like my own because you are my own - always have been, always will be.
Thank you & I love you.