I remember last August sitting in a restaurant with you and my mom, and this was one of the last times we saw each other before going off to school.

My mom wanted to get us together for a lunch date and give us her best college advice, and of course you needed to be there. At this point, you’re a part of our family. I didn’t realize how strange it would be to go to different colleges until I saw how different our experiences were. Of course, we can always text about what happened that day, but it’s so much different than sitting together at lunch or going to practice after school and gossiping about petty high school things.

I have not known you my whole life, but I remember the first softball practice you came to and what an adventure it has been since that day.

We are definitely unlikely friends; our personalities are opposites in a lot of aspects. But I believe our way of thinking and enjoyment in the same things has made us as close as we are. We’ve definitely been through a lot together (remember the speeding ticket)? I will forever cherish the many bus rides we spent together on the way to and from softball games. We were the most annoying people on the bus with our nonstop, awful singing. I basically became your professional hair-braider; I don’t know why I never started charging you for it. I could have started my own business after braiding the entire teams’ hair. By the way, you’re welcome for photocopying my brother’s parking pass for you.

My brilliant (illegal) idea saved us both some money.

I hope the memories never fade of the stories we will someday be able to bring up to our parents without feeling a little guilty about them. How will I get by without having you to pretend to be my girlfriend when I’m really not interested in a guy? Of course, we have our occasional weekends where maybe I could come visit you, or you could come see me. But this will never be enough for us to catch up on everything.

I haven’t even met your new puppy yet!

One of my favorite memories was when we were going up that steep hill on your four wheeler and we started rolling backwards a little. The very first thing you said was, “oh man, I wish the brakes still worked.” This pretty much defined how our friendship has gone. When will we have a chance to make more memories like this? Or what about our IHOP date at two in the morning? When will that happen? This summer better bring a lot of adventures for us.

Living at two different schools is like living in two different worlds. You have new friends and so do I, and sometimes that’s a hard thing to think about. It seems like we move on to different lives, because in a sense we have. We’ve entered the next stage in our lives, and sometimes these things have to be done alone, but that doesn’t mean we leave everyone behind. It just means that our friendship has to evolve to suit our changes.

We’ve laughed, cried, sang, danced, fought, and failed together. As much as it hurts to think about all the things we are leaving in the past, I can’t help to look forward to our future. I will be the best bridesmaid you could ever ask for, and I will hold your hand while you’re in labor, even if I think you might be breaking it. I will be there for the heartbreaks and the mistakes, the struggles and hardships.

We’ve definitely been through a lot together, and that’s the reason I know we will continue to grow together, no matter how far away we are.