In 2011, I met my best friend (and her sister who is also my best friend, but I’ll talk about her at a later date because she deserves her own article). For now, let’s just give some appreciation to my best friend, who puts up with my long rants about boys, school, and just life in general. The person I can call at almost any time and she’ll answer, unless she’s eating (because food is life) or sleeping (because sleep, who cares).

My best friend is named Allison, and we lived three doors down from each other all throughout high school. At first, being the shy people we are, we weren’t as close as I was with her older sister. Her older sister made us be friends. I’m so glad she did, too, because I gained a lifelong friend whom I know will always be down for late night Facetimes and millions of texts when we’re apart, or late night Sonic runs and jam sessions in the car with the windows down during the summertime.

Now, let me just properly introduce you to my best friend. We grew from awkward freshmen in high school to still kind of awkward freshmen in college, but we’re making it. She goes to a college two and a half hours away, while I stayed at home to go to UAH. We both got involved in our own sororities and made college friends. However, unlike a lot of long distance best friends, we talk every day, all day. It doesn’t matter whom we’re with. Plus, all of my college friends know about her, because I talk about her like a proud parent (sorry fam).

Allison is the friend who makes you a better person. She's the type of friend that tells you when to calm down, listens to your pointless rants about everything, tells you when you're in the wrong, but also tells you when you have a right to be angry. She tells you, “Hey, God has a plan for you, He won’t give you anything you can’t handle.” She accepts the five million texts that you send when you're extremely (sometimes irrationally) angry, and says “It’ll all be okay,” and that makes it better. She’s there for you when it feels like the world is ending. Plus, she's always that friend to take weird selfies with when you go on random road trips or take an adventure around your hometown.

And, of course, I'm always there for her when she needs to rant about college, boys, and whatever else. I'm always there when she cries. I may not be there with her physically, but I'm always a phone call or text away. I’m always there to send her gifs from "Parks and Recreation" saying “Treat yo self” when she asks me whether she should order pizza or not (p.s. the answer to that question is always yes). I'm always there to pick her up when she falls. That's what friendship is truly about -- being there for each other, no matter what.

I don’t know what I’d do without my best friend. Most people think she’s sweet, quiet Allison, but if you really know her, you know she’s a firecracker who will talk your ear off (and if you’re reading this, A, I mean that with love). She’s my person, the Meredith Grey to my Cristina Yang. I can’t wait for our late night swimming parties, watching scary movies all night (which is never a good idea), and car jam sessions this summer.

Our friendship is a rarity. As my mom always said, “your true friends are the ones you can count on one hand,” and I’m proud to say Allison is one of them. I know that everyone out there has a best friend like her, or hopefully does. If you don't, I hope one day you do. To me, this is what true friendship is. I don’t know how I would have made it this far in college without her, even though she’s two hours away. Thanks Allison for putting up with me; you keep doing You.