I grew up in Hellertown, Pennsylvania. This town is like many other towns. High School football games are the place to be on Friday nights, and cheer competitions are where I was Saturday mornings. In fifth grade, I got my first locker. I was unbelievably excited, and don't even get me started on how excited I was to switch classes in the middle of the day. In the morning was Math and Science, and then in the afternoon was English.
I had a very strange fashion sense in fifth grade. I would go into my moms closet and find things of hers to wear so I could be more grown up. A couple days I even wore a pant suit that in no way fit me. The jacket went past my finger tips and the pants went past my toes, but I didn't care. If I looked like my mom, that was good enough for me.
On the first day of school, I was sat next to this girl named Sami Sands. I didn't really know her, but she was pretty smart so I wanted to be her friend. She dotted her I's with hearts and our Science and Math teacher always said that she was going to be famous one day because of it, and we all needed to get her autograph while we still could.
Throughout fifth grade, Sami and I became attached at the hip. We did everything together. From cheerleading to Girl Scouts. She became the person that I told my deepest darkest secrets to, and I became that for her. We would ride the bus home together and I would hang out at her house for hours on end. We made sure to stay away from the basement, because it is definitely, absolutely, 100% haunted. NO. JOKE.
She and I stayed friends through sixth and seventh grade, and we did some amazing things together. We won so many cheerleading competition, and she went on a cruise with my family and the list could go on forever.
Seventh grade I got the worst news I could have ever gotten. WE. WERE. MOVING! and not just to a house down the street. WE. WERE. MOVING. TO. GEORGIA! Of all placed why would we move to a place where it's so hot, but rains all the time so you can't even enjoy it? Not only that, but it was twelve hours away from my BEST FRIEND. I was so distraught and upset, and I didn't want to leave Sami or my family, but that day was approaching. Fast.
My family planned a trip to Disney World right before we moved twelve hours from my home. So the summer that I was moving we packed our whole house up and headed to Disney, with Sami and her mom. Sami and I got our own room in this house that we rented for the week, and it was pretty exciting. It was princess themed or something of that nature. We went to all the parks and rode so many awesome rides.
Then the last day came. We had to say goodbye. I cried so many tears that day that my cheeks were bright red from wiping the tears off of my face. I couldn't make coherent sentences. All that ran through my mind was that I didn't know the next time I was going to see Sami, or my aunt, or my uncle, or my cousins, or my grandparents. This was it. This was goodbye.
My little seventh-grade brain thought that I would probably only see them once every couple of years.
That's not how things turned out.
We went to Pennsylvania every other holiday, and on the holidays we didn't my family came to Georgia. Sami is not only still one of my nearest and dearest friends, but she is a part of my family. She still comes on family vacations with us. This past summer she and I actually went on our third cruise together.
Distance doesn't ruin a friendship. It just changes it. Sami and I talk to each other almost every day. Whether it's stupid silly pictures on Snapchat, or a two-hour phone call Sami and I stay in contact. I still tell her all my secrets.
It's just that when I see her, I hug her a little tighter, and I smile a little more. I cherish our time together because I don't know when I'll get the chance to see her again.
She's my best friend of eight years.
She's my best friend for life.
