To the girl who I look up to,

You have always shown an interest in me.

I met you as an acquaintance, and it was only a matter of time before our relationship became a significant part of my life. I was thirteen, an eighth-grader who didn't know much about anything, and you were a 17-year-old senior in high school who had absolutely no incentive to care about me. But you did. A four year age difference did not stop you from showing me that I am special.

You have played a huge role in my faith.

During our first year of friendship, you showed me how set apart a follower of Christ could be. And as you continue to show me that now, I want you to know how grateful I am that you invited me to the church where I was saved by the Lord four years ago. You were the first person to show me the Lord by how you loved me, and I am so thankful that the Lord put you in my life for that reason.

You became a leader, who lead me through so much of life.

Not only were you my actual leader at a camp, you have also been someone who I turn to in times of feeling lost. You have guided me through situations that I thought I was alone in.

You are exactly one stage of life ahead of me, and that has given me a huge appreciation of the future.

When I entered high school as a freshman, you began college as a freshman. Now that I am a senior looking towards college, you are a senior looking towards marriage. What I love most about this is that every year we have new things to celebrate about each other, and we start our new chapters at the same time. I also love that you know what I am going through because I am always entering a stage that you have just exited. I want to thank you for never belittling me or my problems, even though you know that there is so much more to life.

You give my life so much balance.

You and I have so much in common, with such different personalities. Everything that I have gone through, you have too, but we have done things so differently. We have even said that if we were the same age, we most likely wouldn't be in the same friend circle just because of who we are.

That is why I love that you are my good friend, but are ultimately someone to learn from. You balance out my crazy and give me a new perspective on how to view the way I handle situations. Our differences have brought us closer because of that. Your personality has taught me to be less stubborn and your gracefulness has taught me to think more about how beautiful different personalities can be. And I am thankful that you are not afraid to call me out for being dramatic or wrong about things because you can see them in a different perspective.

You have never pretended to be perfect.

In the four years, I have known you, I have never felt judged by you. You do not put up a fake exterior around me, or around anyone. You show me what real life looks like, and you don't pretend that yours is perfect. I couldn't ask for anything more than that. I am so amazed by how you have taken on my problems, even while having problems of your own. And I am so lucky to have someone to look up to who isn't pretending to be someone she's not. You are very careful about not filtering yourself to me, and that is why I want to be like you. It would be so easy for you to hide your flaws from me, but it would make our relationship so much less real. And you are so intentional when it comes to being real.

You have prepared me for what comes next.

I have gone through so many stages of life with you as a friend, encourager, and guidance. You prepared me for my relationships with people, and my plans for the future. You showed me what it's like to really be on the next step in life. And you have taught me that becoming an adult doesn't make being an adult easy. There will always be good and bad seasons of life. But you also taught me how to find the Lord in all of that.

You are one of the best friendships I have ever had.

Although we talk about our problems and you mentor me, we also get along beautifully. We watch movies together and listen to music loudly in the car. We obsess over the same silly things and agree on so many serious things (like how coffee = life). We have fun together. And I am so happy that we have made such great memories. Thank you for showing me what a meaningful friendship is like, I wouldn't trade ours for the world.

You have taught me so much about life, and I want to thank you for it all.