I'll love you forever, this I promise. I'll be the girl that is always by your side, who will love you on all your days, not just the good ones. I'll be the girl that stays with you through trials and triumphs, through pain and celebration, through strength and doubt, through weeks and months, and years and years and years.

I'll grow old with you.

But I'll never grow up.

I can promise you that decades from now, I'll still wear lime green fuzzy slippers and cuddle like a stuffed animal when I'm scared. I know I'll still be terrified of thunder and run through sprinklers. I'll still want to color pictures and draw faces on pebbles and make angels in the snow.

I promise you that I'll still put mini marshmallows in my hot chocolate, that I'll wear my hair in pigtails braids, that I'll paint my nails bright colors and not care what anyone thinks. I'll still get giddy when I hear the ice-cream truck. I'll still splash water when we're in the ocean. I'll still want to blow bubbles and draw with chalks and get into water balloon fights.

Sure, I'll be responsible and mature. I'll pay the bills and file my taxes and make insurance claims and pay off my car and go to work every day. I'll cook meals and do laundry and clean my room as well. I'll carry intelligent conversations, I'll make executive decisions, and I'll wear my fancy dresses and heels and go out of the town.

But you better believe that I'll doodle on the envelopes of those bills and binge-watch cartoons after all day if being an adult and doing the adult talk. I'll dance around the kitchen and smear cake batter on your nose and take you home after a night a drinks and throw pillows at your head.

I'll grow old with you; I'd love to.

But I won't grow up.

No, I won’t.