Having a friend who you can rely on, who can make you laugh, and who can read your thoughts is something that should be cherished. When you meet someone that feels like family, you know that that person was meant to come into your life and stay there for a really long time. It took me a while to realize how lucky I really am to have a person like that and I'll always treasure the bond we share.

To My Best Friend Who is More Like My Sister,

Let me start off by saying that I am so grateful to have you, even though I may not say it that often. You know how terrible I am with being vulnerable and as I write this, tears are streaming down my face because even though I've known for a long time how good to me you are, I really am grateful to have such a loving friend like you in my life.

The type of person that you are only comes around once or twice in a lifetime. I don't only consider you as my best friend, but I think of you as my sister. No matter who is in my life, who my priority is, what my priority is, you'll always be there to talk, to laugh or to just spend time with.

We may have not always been the closest, but once I realized how wonderful of a person you really were, I knew I needed to have you in my life forever. We were friends for such a long time but I never realized, until high school, how I consider you a part of my crazy, loud, and dysfunctional family.

And because I consider you as my family, your family is also my family. I have always felt at home in your house and I think the reason for that is because our families are so similar. Don't get me started on our mothers, who can talk to each other for hours about everything and nothing. It makes me laugh that my mom's Brooklyn accent actually gets stronger when she's with yours and I think that's starting to happen to me when we're together.

Going from seeing you every day to maybe two or three times in a year is one of the hardest transitions from high school to college but it didn't affect the bond we have. Whenever we do see each other after a long period of time, it's as if we saw each other the day before; just picking up where we left off and laughing at one of our inside jokes. It's hard, I'll admit, not being able to go up to your locker at the end of the day and telling you all the new drama that happened.

People say it's hard to be around us because we're just so in sync with each other and it's almost weird how often we think or say the same thing. More often than not, we speak in movie quotes and no one understands what movie it's from except us. Even when we're not together we're telepathic and when I go to text you, you'll beat me to it. We try our best with our Italian skills but almost every time, we fail miserably and end up using Google Translate.

Usually, I develop a bit of anxiety when it's just me and another person because I'm afraid of the awkward silences, but the silences, if there are any, are just filled with our laughter. I've completely lost count of the inside jokes we have and when you bring them up, we just bask in the memories.

It's so hard for me to trust people but you are the most loyal and trustworthy person I've ever known; I can trust you with my darkest secrets. Even if someone wanted to shake it out of you, you'd only bury it deeper: that's the kind of friend you are and I find it so hard to meet someone that is similar to your secret- keeping abilities.

We're so different but at the same time, we're so similar. We have different personalities, but we share the same memories from when we were 5 up until we were 18. We've grown up together and people have come and gone but we're always going to be a constant in each other's lives. I cannot wait to watch you grow as a person just as you will watch me.

We've laughed until we cried and we've cried until we've laughed. Thank you for everything you've done for me. Thank you for the jokes that we've made; some of which I can't even remember because we have so many. Thank you for singing everything that comes to mind with me, no matter who's around, what they think or how loud or ridiculous we sound. Thank you for making me laugh, laughing at my terrible jokes, and making new ones with me. Thank you for tolerating me when I need to cry or rant or both. Most of all, thank you for being you. You're so much more than a best friend to me and I will forever be grateful for you.

Love,

Your Best Friend