Dear best friend of 16 years,
Could we have predicted in kindergarten that we would be so involved in each other's lives this far into the future? I couldn't even choose which shade of pink from my 67-pack of Crayola crayons to use for coloring time, let alone choose my best friend. They say that if you're friends with someone for six years or more, then you're best friends for life; I think we've got that part.
We were so close at our small, private elementary school. I was heartbroken when you transferred out after the second grade. My best friend was gone and I had to adjust. As a dramatic 7-year-old, I thought I would never see you again. Then I transferred out a year after you, to the same school you had gone to. My dad was able to pull some strings and put me in every class you were in so I could have my best friend. I was beyond excited because all of the crazy shenanigans could start up again!
For the next three years, we were wreaking havoc and taking names. Then the seventh grade came, and I transferred out to another private school. Middle school was a tough time for me and I didn't have my best friend with me. I had to make new friends, but I always wanted you to study with, to eat lunch with and to crack up in class with. I figured I would graduate from this school and couldn't imagine not seeing you again, but hey, hindsight is 20/20. We never talked, except for the random messages on Facebook now and then. We always stressed how much we missed each other and how much we needed to get together, but nothing ever happened.
It seems to be a pattern that I transfer schools a lot because junior year of high school I found myself in a new school -- again. It wasn't until the spring semester, in a cooking class, that we would see each other for the first time in years. We were very different then: I was in my preppy phase, while you were in your emo phase. We both thought we weren't good enough for each other at the time, but boy were we wrong.
Over the next year and half, we became close again, and it was the best thing I could of asked for at a new school. Then we graduated. Then I went to college in the city, and you went to the community college down the road. Separated once more, and our friendship fell off the grid. Living on campus, I was never around to hang out with our other best friends like you could. I had to wait to see you, and them, on the weekend, or to talk to you on Xbox Live -- since gaming was our lives for a few years. But when we did meet up, it was always an amazing time.
I managed to find the right balance my sophomore year at college, and ever since then, we've been the best of friends -- which is what we indirectly intended back in kindergarten. Taking that next step in our relationship, we got our best friend tattoos this the past year, and it's more important to me than the first tattoo I ever got, and I know it is for you too. Now I'm a senior in college, graduating in May. You're a hairdresser with an assistant manager position, with your own official college experience lined up next fall to become a registered nurse. We're apartment hunting to find our own little place to call home together. We're practically siblings at this point, with a fun, lighthearted fight thrown in now and again.
We couldn't have guessed back in 1999 that we would be where we are today. But I don't think either of us would change a thing. Thanks for being the Dean to my Sammy, and everything in between!
I love you so so much,
Your best friend
