I'll be the first to admit—I never understood what it was like to have a best friend. In high school, I always had a few good friends I saw in and outside of school, and then what some of us may be familiar with as strictly school friends. After high school graduation (just like our teachers told us), we all drifted apart without intention. We all had different college plans, boyfriends, work and other priorities. Lucky for me, I have remained close with my "high school" best friends and will always cherish every laugh or tear we shared together.
Now, as I'm in my second year of college, I finally realize what a true best friend is. Here's 20 thank you's to mine:
1. Thank you for being one of my amazing roomies, and staying up way too late with me every night.
2. Thank you for making me laugh so hard I choke. And then saving me.
3. Thank you for telling me when an idea of mine is not my best idea.
4. Thank you for being by my side every single time I hit rock bottom.
5. Thank you for always listening and never judging.
6. Thank you for letting me borrow an outfit because, "I just don't like mine."
7. Thank you for leaving your parents' front door unlocked when I needed somewhere to go other than my own home.
8. Thank you for being my shotgun rider during every road trip, for controlling the music and maps and for not freaking out nearly as bad as I do when I take a wrong turn and add an hour to the trip.
9. Thank you for being as random and as weird as me.
10. Thank you for telling me your secrets and keeping all of mine safe.
11. Thank you for all the people I met through you.
12. Thank you for being my partner in crime (let's keep this as a figure of speech).
13. Thank you for making life easier. For constantly proving that friends tell you it will be okay and wipe away your tears, but a best friend tells you it can be hard as hell and cry alongside with you.
14. Thank you for every picture you've taken of us, and of course the few hundred you've taken just for me.
15. Thank you for being a part of every memory, good and bad.
16. Thank you for always being yourself and showing me what braveness and beauty look like hand-in-hand.
17. Thank you for binge watching "Friends" and "One Tree Hill" with me.
18. Thank you for being such a good friend to my boyfriend.
19. Thank you for loving my baby niece almost as much as I do.
20. Thank you for being my best friend through thick and thin...through cheerleading days, to now college days and eventually the real-world bull.
Regardless of whatever happens or who else I meet in this lifetime, you will always be my best friend, for so many more reasons than these twenty.
Happy 20th birthday, Candace!
