Dear Best Friend Since Childhood,

*May contain embarrassing content*

We've been friends since fourth grade, I think. You say second grade, but let's compromise and settle on third grade. So, we've been friends for almost 15 years and when you know someone for 15 years, you know more about them than you'd probably like.

First of all, a big thank you for being by my side for the majority of the 15 years and, if for some reason you weren't, I'm sure it was my fault anyway. We're like sugar and spice—exact opposites, which is probably the reason we've been friends for so long.

You're the sugar (obviously), and I'm the spice (obviously). You are the positive to my negative, the blonde to my brunette, the calm to my crazy.

Throughout the years, we've gushed over boys. Like, hundreds of boys, probably. From my middle school "love" to your elementary school crush. Don't even get me started on high school, where there were so many boys, we couldn't think straight (which we learned wasn't actually a good thing).

All of those boys made us so excited (we soon learned they were so not worth our excitement), we would go into such excruciatingly long detail, repeating word-for-word our conversations because they were that important. Because when a hot guy acknowledges, you have to tell your best friend or else it didn't actually happen. Duh.

We were front and center for each other's middle school years—aka the ugly, awkward years that we are trying to forget. The hair, the clothes, the changing bodies...it was just bad.

Then, in high school, when we experienced real heartbreak and boys treated us like dolls with no feelings. Luckily, we always showed up at each other's houses with candy (chocolate was a must), movies, boys-suck music and, of course, a chick flick to indulge in the idea that perfect guys exist somewhere (because they definitely didn't exist in our own lives).

We've seen each other through love and heartbreak, family fights, nasty rumors, mean girls—everything under the sun. I've laughed harder with you than anyone else. We created more inside jokes than I could possibly count and are far too embarrassing to write about. We were silly and crazy and on top of the world. Now that we're old (22 is so old), we like to think we have it all figured but we're still just as confused as we were when we were 16.

I know I can tell you absolutely anything and everything. When something good or bad happens, I go to you. And, when we fight, no one else fills the void. They don't know how to deal with me or my sassiness, which is a tremendous struggle, and you deserve a prize.

We've seen each other become friends with others and experience jealousy or a feeling of being forgotten or inferior. But, we never outgrew each other, we were just growing in different ways with different people, but always coming back to each other. Because, when you've known someone for this long, there's no secrets or lies or faking it.

We've broken the rules together, been sneaky, been not-so-sneaky, coached each other on how to talk to boys, took frequent trips to Target that usually resulted in trying on ugly clothes, ate an infinite amount of pizza rolls and Taco Bell, gotten into some nasty fights, experienced times when we had no one else but each other—and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

This is totally a love letter and a bit mushy but what else could you expect from a friendship of 15 years?

We grew up together: we know each other's past and present, goals and dreams, who made the cracks in our hearts, which moments were the most influential in our lives so far, and I just can't wait for the future because there will no doubt be drama and I'm so ready to get a play-by-play.

Thanks for being there through everything. I'm sorry in advance for whatever I say that will probably piss you off in the near future. I appreciate you and our friendship more than you could ever know. Here's to 15 years of friendship and many more. *kissy face emoji*

Okay, I need to text you back now.

P.S. Unfortunately (thankfully), at the moment, I couldn't find more pictures of us as kids. I'm not sure the world is ready for that.