Hey you(s),

I’m not sure I tell you enough how truly grateful I am that you’re my friend. We met through interesting circumstances, and like most happenstance friendships, hardly expected it to last. Yet here we are, over five years later, still as close as can be. I’ve been privileged with experiencing some of your highest highs (childbirth, marriage, and love) and your lowest lows (heartbreak, devastating loss, and sickness). You’ve helped me through unimaginable pain, my crazy frustrations, and as many bad days as good ones. You lift me up when I am down and I only hope I do the same for you. You are the constant in my life, the one I know I can always lean on when times get tough. I hope you know I will do the same for you.

We don’t speak every day. We’re lucky if we snag a few moments here and there for texting or phone calls. Every couple of weeks I try to check in, and I’m sorry, because sometimes I know it’s much longer than that before I do. Still, despite that, there’s never any awkwardness. There’s never any pain, or adjustment, or settling in, before we’re back to our usual selves. I know the second I speak to you again, everything is right in the world. I live for the moments I get to hear about what’s been going on in your life and when I can help, even in the slightest. I talk to my friends about you as if they know you personally, and while it drives them nuts, I am unashamedly not sorry. You are a huge part of my life, even if you aren’t present daily.

Some people I have thought I’d have forever, I’ve lost in the blink of an eye. Yet you guys stuck around. Even when you live halfway across the country, you never stop caring. You check in on me just as often as I do with you, sometimes even more so. You put just as much effort into our friendship as I do and for that I can only thank you dearly. You have no idea how much it means to me to know that in my darkest days, all I need to do is reach out to you, and you’ll tell me it’s okay. I know we joke that I need to move closer to you every single time we speak, and I want you to know that every time the subject is broached, I do reconsider. The truth is, I know where I belong, where I need to go, and what I need to do, and I know you know the same. However, that being said, I would love to just pick up everything and go to you. The problem is I can’t disregard all of the other things going on in my life just to do that for you, and I know you couldn’t do the same. The awesome thing about such a shitty situation, though, is that I know despite the distance we will be just fine.

I’ll keep visiting, even if we go years without seeing each other. You’ll continue to inspire me to be a better person, to keep fighting for what I believe in, and to keep protecting myself. You have been there through some devastatingly difficult times, and while you were not there for all of them, that doesn’t matter. What matters is you came, and you stayed, and you show up. You continue to show up for me even when you’re pregnant and working two jobs and trying to make a life and a home for your family. You still find time for little old me, and I will always find the time for you. I love you guys. Truly. Thank you for being the friends I never knew I needed, my home away from home, and the two people I will undoubtedly be able to count on for the rest of my life.

I love you ladies, so much more than you know.