If you give a girl a best friend, she’s always going to have someone to turn to.

When she always has someone to turn to, she’ll never feel alone. When these two things are combined, she’s going to make sure she does everything she can to keep that best friend in her life. If you give a girl a best friend, she’ll always be laughing.

When she’s laughing, she’ll understand that she wouldn’t be anywhere without her best friend.

This is long overdue and much deserved. My best friends are some of the best people in my world. We always find ways to talk and laugh and gossip for hours on end, without ever getting tired of each other (well, most of the time). I don’t say it enough, but I am eternally grateful for the girls I am lucky enough to call my best friends, and I'm blessed that I’ve been able to grow up with not just one best friend, but two of the very best people I have ever encountered.

We’ve gone through the rough and not so pretty phases of growing up together, and experienced many different changes in our friend group, but through all that, I know that they are my constant. Most of the time we spend our time together making fun of each other, or watching movies that we’ve seen 100 times already, or sharing posts to each other from across the room, or sometimes just enjoying each other’s presence without even saying anything for a while. We’ve had countless sleepovers and hangout sessions that have been some interesting experiences, to say the least. We are a group of some of the most dramatic, hysterical, wild, fun, rude, loving, unique people I have ever encountered- but that makes me sure that there will never be a dull moment in our lives. Whether we’re making dinner together, or watching new movies, or playing Mario cart (and failing miserably), or trying to diet for the 80^th time and not making progress, or traveling near and far together, or even just going to the mall for a pair of shoes- there will never be a boring moment. Sometimes it gets hard to not always be close to them because school keeps us apart, but I know they’re always a call or text away. We’ve gotten used to cropping each other into group photos when 2 out of 3 are together, and it makes it feel like we aren’t so far away. Our level of closeness has long passed the point where we’ve become part of each others’ families, and we have an embarrassingly high amount of comfort together.

But apart from that level of comfort that we’ve built together, I know I could go to them with anything and everything, and they would always have my back. I know I could come to them to complain, or vent, or cry, or scream, or laugh, or celebrate. I know they would always share my emotions, and never judge me for them.

They always understand where my head is at (so much that we often say the same things at the same time- can you say telepathy??), and they are always there to lend advice when I feel like I'm going crazy. They’re always there to take care of me, and make sure I’m doing what’s best for my life. I hope they know I'm always there for them too, because that’s what friends are for. They have seen me at my highest highs, and lowest lows, and still stick by me through it all. I know with my best friends I don’t have to hide any part of me (except maybe some ugly faces that I know may end up on Snapchats that come back to haunt me later).

I have been so blessed to have known my best friends, because there were some things that truly tested me as a person in the time we’ve been in each others’ lives, and they made it more bearable at best.

Growing into adults has been a wild ride, and as we enter this next year, I truly look forward to the unplanned adventures, the laughter, the fun, the joy, and happiness that comes ahead for us. I also look forward to knowing I always have someone in my corner, and always knowing I have someone to stand up for me when I can’t be there to do it for myself. I look forward to making brand new memories, and facing all the challenges life throws at us, together as a trio.

We’re not always sappy, and I don’t always say it enough, but we don’t need to say it for me to know that my best friends truly are the best, and I don’t know how I got so lucky to have such crazy, loving, amazing friends, and I'm so proud of the people they have grown to be. Thank you both for being my saving grace, my laughing track, my sense of adventure, and my best friends. From elementary school and middle schools (shudders), through many memories, trends and hairstyles, through high school and college and everything between and beyond, we’ve been through it all and I couldn’t have done any of it without you! (And you know you’re stuck with me for the long run so buckle up!)

Now I know that if you give a girl a best friend, she’ll feel truly blessed. When she’s blessed, there will be no better feeling. When she experiences that, she knows the friendship will be forever.