That was the problem with so many people: the need to be recognized and to feel like they have been appreciated. But perhaps the bigger problem was that so many of us have lost the ability to express sentiment without the fear of permeating the air with awkwardness. I do not want to be one of those people. I want those who matter in my life to know just how much I recognize what they have done, and perhaps I don't say it as much as I should.

I was never the type to be able to express how I feel, because I felt too much and I was afraid, once again, of that awkwardness, of being looked at differently, of being a sentimental freak. I was afraid of letting people see the many emotional waves that drift and break in me. But in truth, we are all searching for acceptance and we all crave recognition and appreciation. And I would rather risk being embarrassed than leaving this Earth without being able to tell the people in my life how much they've truly impacted me.

Maybe it's because I'm in one of my moods as I'm writing this, but I have found that this state of being is the one where I am most innately aware and able to discern and sort my emotions and to put them onto paper and into words. So, I would like to thank everyone who has been there for me. Most of all, thank you to my best friend, who has seen both sides of me – the dark in addition to the bright that everyone has seen – and still stuck with me.

Thank you for always selflessly being there, for letting me sulk and cry, but also for knocking sense and forcing me to get back up when I needed to, and for being brave when I could not. Thank you for taking literal hits for me, for keeping up with my moods, for listening to what I know must be a drag to you by now. You mean so much more to me than I could ever express, so I do it the only way I know how: words. They may not mean as much, but I hope you know that I mean them.

You've been a blessing in every way, and I apologize for every time I may have brought you down or dampened your mood, for every time I have made your life harder than it should be, and for every time I have not been able to measure up to the best friend you are to me. But I hope you know that I am constantly trying, and when the time comes, I will sit on the sidewalk with you and pick you up the way you have done for me.

My only wish is that one day someone else will be able to experience the magic you have been in my life and he will be one lucky guy. You know who you are, and I'll always love you to the moon and back. My person, always.