They say to marry your best friend. I always thought that was just a saying like, “fools rush in...” or “A rose by any other name...” Before meeting the woman I would marry, I didn’t think that that was real. Sure, you can love your partner, but how could they be your friend on top of it?

Then I met M. You remember when you were a little girl, and your friends would sleep over? You would spend all night giggling, eating snacks, doing each other’s hair, and watching movies, right? You’d spend hours talking about everything from whether or not dogs can have crushes, to your hopes and fears for the future. That’s what it’s like every single night with me and my fiancée. I never knew that love could be this way. In fact, I never realized that M was my best friend until one of these nights. She had gotten home very late from work and I hadn’t seen her all day. We stayed up late in bed, catching up on our day. I was teasing her about something or other and she was laughing.

She wiped her eyes and sighed, “You’re my best friend.” I blinked. Was I? Was she mine? What was a best friend?

Over the course of my two decades on Earth, I’ve called many guys and girls my best friend. Guys who’ve spent hours reading comic books with me. Girls who gush with me all day about my favorite bands. People who I’ve leaned on and who have leaned on me. Each of them has a special place in my heart and contributed to who I am today.

Is that what M was to me? We had met on Tumblr two years prior. I had made a post about the college I was going to attend soon, and she came across it. I got a message in the middle of the night that I almost didn’t see for another day.

One message led to another and, suddenly, we were texting non-stop. After a few weeks of texting from the moment I woke up to the moment I fell asleep, we started hanging out in person. Soon, hanging out turned into dates. Dating turned into us being a couple.

We’ve been together for two years. In fact, we’re getting married after we graduate. I’ve never been happier. However, does that make her my best friend? Well, for one, we share all of our clothes. Most of the time, when buying a new shirt, I consider whether or not M would wear it, too. We help each other with our makeup, constantly. She taught me the joys of lipstick and I taught her how to make sure her eyeliner wings are on point.

We started getting into each other's hobbies. She became a die-hard Mariners fan once we started dating, and I even understand football a little better. We have a list of shows that we absolutely have to watch together, no matter what.

But that doesn’t answer my question. What makes her my best friend? It can’t be that we just share clothes, makeup, and TV shows. It must be more than that, right?

Who do I go to when I’m upset? When I fail a test or have a bad day at work, or even when I get upset for no reason at all-she’s the one I want to talk to. When I get on the Dean’s List, or teach my dog a new trick, or see a hilarious video online, M is the first person I want to tell. Even when we get into an argument, she’s the one I want to rant about it too.

We sit together and do homework, we help each other study for tests and we proofread each other’s essays. We don’t just love each other; we support each other. In any plan I have for my life, M seems to fit in perfectly.

I grinned back at her. “You’re my best friend, too. I never realized it before, but you are.”

That doesn’t mean that she’s my only friend. In fact, we both have at least eight brides people in our wedding. Each and every one of them is our close friends. At the end of the day, M is the one that I want to come home to. We have our romantic moments and we have our friendship moments. Most of the time, they blend together. We can be laughing at a dog video one moment, dancing around the next, and cuddling on the couch after that. She’s the love of my life, and my best friend.