Graduation looms, and after four years of Optimist service, I have one more column to write.

There still are stories untold, anecdotes unused and limericks unpublished, but this is my last chance to shove my views onto the ACU populous. This one should be special.

During my time at ACU, I’ve accumulated plenty of mentors to thank, friends to hug, weekly coffee dates to commemorate and Cornerstone freshmen to adore.

But on my last soapbox, there’s really only one person I’d like to address: my little sister.

Dear Jennifer,

Forgive me for abusing this public forum, but I think everyone should know exactly how awesome you are.

In the last several years, I’ve watched you grow into an accomplished, beautiful and godly young woman. I got to see you navigate gracefully through your first year of college, collecting a host of wonderful friends and wisely discerning the adult you want to become outside the umbrella of our upbringing.

You’re here for school, so remember to keep that a priority and trust your friends to understand. And as marvelous as ACU is, you never owe the university anything beyond the balance of your student loans.

No one will or can understand your dream like you will, so choose a path and pursue your calling with your whole being, never looking back.

Amidst all the career and extracurricular choices you’ll make in the coming years, don’t forget that your faith remains most important. Invite God to walk with you through the next six semesters, and live for him with joyful, wild abandon.

As a good friend of ours commissioned me upon my high school graduation, “May you live to prove he is more precious than life.”

Remember that you never have to worry about filling my shoes. Your Keds are way cuter than mine, anyway.

Always speak your mind; just be careful how you phrase it.

There’s still a country song for everything you’re going through, and there’s Akon for everything else.

I love you,

I’m proud of you,

Your sister