Somewhere in the universe, God looked down and saw a sad, confused little girl who's parents had just divorced & sent you to Mrs. Hake's 1st grade class at Freeburg Elementary. Sorry about that.

But that's where I met you. My Pal. Palli Cander. You had a bowl cut & we're dressed like a literal boy. Everyone kept saying your name was Allison, but you looked like a boy? Daddy didn't raise no bitch, so I was gonna find out just what the hell you were. "Are you a boy or a girl?" My little mean ass 6 year old self asked. You pointed to your name tag & said "Can't you read?" I paused and said no. You came back with "....well I can't either." And the rest is history.

During that 1st grade year, I'd learn that you lived right across the street from me. (Your poor mom.) We were ALWAYS at your house. Eating all your snacks, playing NHL, or basketball or rollerblading or riding your tony hawk boom boom hawk jam bike or exploring your creepy ass secret passageways. Either way, we were always together. I was ALWAYS dragging you along on something we weren't supposed to be doing. Like crossing the highway to get slushees, or riding our bikes across town in the middle of a tornado, or that time I forced you onto Auggie Ward's electric scooter and you wrecked it. Your mom was so mad at me.

They say you never stay friends with your grade school friends in high school, but we kept up at mock speed all the way through high school. Never missed a beat. There was times that others would enter in, but in the end it was just us two. If someone was fighting w me, they were fighting w you. If I was going through something, you were going through it too. Our sophomore year, your dad deployed to Iraq and my dad died all within a month of each other, which turned into another thing that made us closer than anyone else. Throughout all of the bullshit that has gone on in my life, the only constant has been you.

You had my back more than anyone else, even when I didn't have it myself. You & your family were always the light in my dark, dark world. You were my escape from reality. You're the DJ Tanner to my Kimmie Gibbler. You're the watermelon to my Seymour. You're my best friend.

I know life has happened and it gets harder and harder to see each other, but I know that no matter what, you're a phone call away. Whether I need a pep talk, a place to watch the game or I just don't want to be alone, I know how to get ahold of you. Literally we've had the same numbers since we got phones.

I love you, Pal.