Hello, best friend (in your case, insert your best friend's name here. In my case, Hi, Cat!).

I’m not trying to get all Hannah Montana on you, but I want to say thank you for being a true friend. Thank you for being you.

One of the most important things we learn in college is friendship. In grade school, a lot of your best friends were people that you just saw every week day and hung out with outside of school. College is different; you don’t just see you friends every single day at a place you’re forced to go to. You live with your friends at a place that you all want to be at. You eat, sleep, and breathe with your friends, and are surrounded by them constantly. Friends become best friends.

I met a girl who ended up becoming my friend, who then ended up become my best friend. Lucky for me, that girl is you.

I remember the day I first met you; I was excited and nervous and anxious. We were both pretty quiet and didn’t have a lot to talk about. I wondered if we would be those girls that were cordial with one another, or the type that didn’t like each other at all, or the type that would end up being close.

Here’s my answer.

We’re the type of girls that are inseparable. We’re the, “I’m with her,” type of girls, the type that are always with one another, so much that people don’t even need to wonder where one of us is because they automatically know that we’re together. We’re the type of girls that are like sisters; we fight, laugh, cry, and smile together. Through the happiness, sadness, and craziness this year brought, you never left my side. We’re the type of girls that face everything that life throws at us together.

You have shown me what it really means to be a best friend. You have shown me that a best friend is someone that always has your best interest at heart, no matter what. A lot of good and bad decisions are going to be made in your lifetime, but your best friend will always guide you in the right direction. When your best friend sees that something is good for you, they will encourage you to keep it around; when they see that something is destructive, they’ll do everything in their power to make sure you get rid of it. A best friend protects you. You’ve shown me that a best friend is someone that puts others before themselves, and cares about us more than anything. A best friend is always there for you; from laughing hysterically with you (especially after you fall off of a chair), to smiling from ear to ear with you, to crying your eyes out with you, to just listening, they’ve always got your back. You’ve shown me that a best friend will always be real with you and tell it like it actually is, not just tell you what you want to hear. A best friend is someone you can completely open yourself up, someone that accepts you completely. A best friend will always love you.

A best friend is you.

For the past year, I have had you by my side every single day. Next year, it won’t be like that. You and I are going our separate ways, both starting brand new adventures with brand new people.

Life is going to change and so are we.

People will always come and go in our lives, but this isn’t the case with you and me. We will always have family.

I met a girl who ended up becoming my friend, who then ended up become my best friend, who then ended up becoming family to me. Lucky for me, that girl is you.

I genuinely have no idea how to do this whole life thing without you, but I’m so lucky I don’t have to.

Love Forever,

Me