Dear Virginia,
First, before I tell you how awesome you are, I must write a disclaimer to anyone not you reading this that, yes, ironically two of my best friends were born eight days apart. What are the odds of that? (Even weirder is that my other best friend and I are born eight days apart in October.) So, while it would be much more touching and cute and less repetitive if I was able to put these articles out in non-consecutive weeks, that's how it's got to be.
NOW. Where do I begin? I guess the beginning. Unlike Cait, I do definitely remember meeting Virginia. We were both completely alone at lunch on the first day at school and knew absolutely no one else. Not that we really knew each other, but we recognized one another from summer basketball and on the first day of high school that's more than enough. And this rather pathetic, cliché meeting has spawned into another of my life's most valued friendships.
Somehow, and rather intentionally at times, we had almost the exact same schedule for 90% of high school. This obviously lent itself to study sessions (which was a true sign of friendship at the time because I am VERY particular about how I study). You were one of the only people I trusted to work on work with me and help me to be better in school. So thanks, I passed like half those classes only by your help.
But I think the weirdest, and most valuable, part of our friendship is that most of the time being friends with you is like looking in a mirror. That's not to say we don't have different interests or separate friends. But you almost always know what I'm thinking, even when I don't say it, and I can usually guess what you're thinking too. You're one of the few people I could talk to for hours and not come up with some introverted excuse to end the conversation and move on to something else. Or we can lay by a pool on our phones and not talk and still be totally fine with just hanging out.
I'm always so happy to get to come home because I know no matter how busy you seem to be you always make time to hang out. Unlike some of our wilder and louder friends, you're always the person I can count on to be the solid and rational voice of reason. But you still manage to make everything fun, and we always manage to have an adventure when we do things together. Like Caitlin, you can pull me out of my comfort zone – but you never make me do anything I'm not comfortable with (except eating sweet potatoes, which I tried again and still don't really like, sorry).
So happy 21st birthday Virginia! I can truly say yours is a friendship that grew out a desperate moment of high school terror at eating alone into a friendship that I didn't know I needed until I had it. Thank you for being the friend I can turn to with anything, and I can't wait to see you soon!
