Hi Everyone!

Thanks everyone!

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: It was Always Meant for You

Dear Rylee,

Well, it’s been a bumpy few months, hasn’t it? I know you never check your e-mail, but I hope someday you do open it up and you see all these messages. First thing I want to say is you made a tough choice. You gave up your autonomy, your freedom of choice, and you put it all in my hands, trusting that I would guide you. God, Rylee, that’s huge and I’m hoping against hope that I can live up to my word.

I’m going to ask a lot of you over the next few years. I’m going to push you to your limits and make sure that you’re working to the best of your potential. It won’t always be pretty, and you won’t always be comfortable, and hell, you might even hate me from time to time, but I’m not going to give up on you. There are just a few things that I ask of you, but I have faith that by the time you read this, you’ll have delivered on all of them.

Be patient with me. I’m learning, Rylee, and I’m trying, but I’m so new to all of this. I’m not going to get it right every time and definitely not the first time, but I’ll get there. Don’t give up on me!

Understand that sometimes it’s going to hurt. I’ve asked that you behave as a child, and there’s a good reason for that. You didn’t have a childhood, and you deserve one. You deserve to know what it’s like to be happy and carefree, even if you don’t get the full eighteen years, but understand that it comes with sacrifice. I may punish you, or take things away from you, but it will never be done without reason, and if you feel that I’ve overstepped or that I’m wrong, I hope that you understand you can come to me, and that we can talk. The same goes for Mom, and it goes for Fiona; you’re not expected to follow us blindly. You may not always understand, but you can always ask!!!

Know that you can talk to me. This is going to be a hard one for you, probably, because I can be hot-headed, but even if you think I’m mad, you can still come talk to me and I’ll listen to you, every time. You don’t need to hide in your room or avoid me. I’ll never be too mad to talk to you. I love you, little sis.

Ask questions! You’re living a whole new life, Rylee Blackburn. You have new experiences, new connections and new challenges. When you picked ‘option 2’, you changed the course of our lives. It’s a learning experience for me, and I want us to be there for each other.

Our life is going to be full of challenges; some of them might seem simple, others impossible, but we’re going to get through them, together. You probably think I saved you, but we saved each other, little sister. We did that together. I was at my wit’s end, you were on your last leg. It’s one hell of a pair we make. It’s not just me, Mom loves you too, even if she’s a little bit stern with you (I heard about the hospital).

I guess what I’m trying to say, Rylee, is thank you. Thanks for being there when I needed you, and as always, sorry for putting a gun in your face. I’ll try not to do it again. No promises.

Also, Rylee. My love was never meant for someone else. It was always meant for you.

Love,

your Big Sister,

Tori