It's only when you are away from your friends for a long time that you realize how much they truly mean to you. After moving over a thousand miles away from my home town to go to college, I have realized just how much I miss these guys (gals). Without further ado, here is my open letter to two of the bestest friends I've ever had:

Dear Yvonne and Uma (or Uma and Yvonne [I meant nothing by putting one name before the other])

Uma, I first met you on the bus in 6th grade and we never really talked. All I can remember is that you seemed a bit tomboyish and that you weren't a "normal" Asian girl (lol). You also tricked me into thinking that you were half African-American and half Asian and I believed it until you told me you were lying. You also once jokingly made fun of me for looking at a guy when we were on the bus, even though I claimed I wasn't (I probably was). It turns out I would look at many guys over the next few years and learn to be proud of it. We didn't talk much until freshman year when I sat with you at lunch, but I really didn't talk to you much then. Our real friendship began in junior year when we had Small Business Management together and magically chose to sat next to each other, as if we knew we'd become good friends. Our bond over over Small Business Management, chemistry, and gayness was strong and continued to grow throughout that year. I really never had a friend like that in my life before.

Yvonne, I also met you in 6th grade since we were in the same homeroom. We sat right by each other but you didn't like me for a while. You may have even hated me but I'm not sure why. It wasn't until around junior year that we began to actually talk again since you were such good friends with Uma. Over the past few years we've really become good friends and you have become one of my bestest friends. Even when I didn't put effort into our friendship you were always there to put in the effort to make sure our friendship stood the test of time. There are very few people in my life who have done that and it means so much. Through the mess that has been the beginning of our college years we've remained friends and I thank you for that.

I know that no matter what happens we all will always be friends. No matter where we go to college, what other friends we meet, or what changes we go through, we will always have this friendship to connect us. I love that, despite everything that has happened in the past couple years, we still are there for one another. No matter how much success we have, or how many challenges we face, we can count on each other to share memories with and share a simple text with, especially when we're lonely!As I'm typing this, I crave the experiences we once had and can't wait to reunite in the winter, in a cute Princeton cafe with hot drinks, jackets, scarves, and memories to share.

Love,

Jerry