Now the news that everyone's been waiting for; Grace Fielder is way more than my best friend. She's my soul mate. Sorry to disappoint our long time fans, but Grace and I aren't romantically compatible. I just mean that we have mutually acknowledged that we are the kind of best friends that plan to stick together until we die next to each other in a nursing home.

Since the middle of middle school, the indisputably most awkward phase in any given persons life, Grace has been like a sister to me. There is no one else that understands my humor like her. We can laugh for hours about literally nothing.

From long nights working at our high school for student government, singing in choir together, and even playing lacrosse the last few years of high school, we've been together through it all.

Coming from a single parent household and being an only child, it’s been such a blessing to have grown up to find someone who is truly like a sister to me.

We had a long talk in the car a while ago, in which we discussed the true cornerstone of our friendship: our food preference comparability. Our favorite thing to do is go out to eat somewhere fancy and split an entree. (For those who haven’t yet realized it, that’s the true test of a lasting friendship.)

I guess the whole point of saying all these things, is to emphasize that I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the love of my best friend. She’s supported me through the worst times, and been the highlight of my favorite memories. Her kindness and dedication to being her best self shines in all she does, and I don’t know why Fate thought I, of all people, deserved to have someone’s so amazing as my best friend. I just know that I will never tell take it for granted.

To Grace: I love you, endlessly! I can’t wait for many more years of friendship.