To Those Who Will Date My Little Sister

Inspired by Jesse Parent’s “To the Boys Who Will One Day Date My Daughter”

By Derek Frazier

To those who will date my little sister.
I am warning you now.
My little sister will not come
with a warning sign, or any label
of any kind for that matter.
But you will fall hopelessly
in love with her.

You sucker.

You will fall in love
with the sideways curve of her smile,
with the massive collection of pillows and
stuffed animals on her bed.

You will fall in love with the messes she will make
on her bedroom carpet. That massive pile
of random things from her numerous hidey holes
and shelves. And when you ask what she’s doing
with all of those things she will look you dead
in the eye and calmly say
“Go away. I’m trying to get my life together.”

You will fall in love with her incredibly
rusty Korean, her obsession with manatees,
her dreams of becoming a mermaid, and her
insistence that “everything tastes better with ketchup.”

Don’t freak out when she randomly decides
to make velociraptor sounds during quiet moments.
Don’t question when she suddenly declares
that she is a potato.

She will flip the world you live in upside down
and inside out. You will right yourself and
come back wanting more.
Losing yourself in the blue of her eyes,
the hiccups of her laughter as it echoes
throughout your bedroom.
She will take your heart and treat it
gently because your love wasn’t a gift,
it was a privilege.

Six billion people walk this earth.
Only one of them is my little sister.
Please, hold her close when she cries
and promise her that tomorrow will be better.
Be the reason I hear her giggle on the phone
when I’m away at college or far away living
my own life.

Comfort her, take care of her, love her,
promise her the world and mean it.
Be the saltwater to this little mermaid,
and it wouldn’t hurt if you took the time
to learn a little Korean.