To my dear friend:

I guess I’ll start off with the clichéd “thank you.” It goes without saying, but that’s just the thing—I don’t openly appreciate you nearly enough. We’ve been friends for so long, it just doesn’t seem necessary. But honestly, thank you. For everything.

Thank you for being my lunch buddy in elementary school. Together, we ruled the second grade; everyone wanted to be friends with us, to sit next to us in class, to be on our team at recess. Thank you for the stupid fights over nothing, and thank you for the little gifts we would give each other the next morning to apologize. We were the dynamic duo, so tightly knit that not even your switching schools could tear us apart.

Thank you for not giving up on our friendship when life took us in different directions. Though we didn’t go to the same middle school, nothing changed between us. We made time to see each other, to have sleepovers and giggle about our crushes. Thank you for the Gmail chats where we poured out our souls to each other before texting was a thing. Thank you for being silly with me—whether it was acting out our favorite movie scenes or pretending to be in our own Pantene commercial while swimming around my pool. It should’ve been illegal, how weird we were.

Thank you for guiding me through high school. Though we began to drift, you were there for every important moment. Thank you for helping me through every heartbreak, every awful week, every failed test. Thank you for also celebrating life’s joys—my first relationship, college acceptance letters, new jobs. We could go weeks without talking, but if I needed you, I could count on you to be there in a heartbeat.

Now here we are in college, and life somehow landed us once again at different schools, but in the same city together. Though our lives are separate, you have without a doubt shaped the person who I am today. The best sort of friends are the ones you can pick up with right where you left off. Even years down the line, no matter where life takes us, I know you will be by my side. You’re more than just a friend—you’re family. And for that I will be forever grateful.