I want to say, thank you. Thank you for raising the sister I never had because, although you didn’t know it, all those years you were busy parenting, you were also busy creating the girl that was going to become my best friend. Without your child, I don’t know where I would be right now, but it probably wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn't have a best friend.

Your child has influenced me more than you know. Our friendship is something that I can’t begin to put into words, but I hope that you’re proud of how amazing they are -- clearly you did something right. The child you raised knows how to have fun, how to make me laugh when it feels like the world is crushing me, and is someone who will never leave my side, and I plan on doing the same for them. We laugh together, cry together, have a dictionary's worth of inside jokes, and if anyone ever read our text messages, we would probably get checked into an insane asylum, because to anyone else they wouldn't make sense. Your child is unique and I hope that you realize what a wonderful person you’ve contributed to the world, even if she can be crazy sometimes.

Beyond raising my best friend, thank you for helping to raise me. Thank you for picking me up from school, for all the rides home, for letting me have crazy sleepovers, for inviting me to stay for dinner, for inviting me to family outings, for supporting my ambitions. You didn’t have to give me birthday gifts, but you did, and for all of these things I’m eternally grateful.

The two of you are like my second parents, and I'm sure that by now you've figured that out because countless times we've joked about how I'm your other daughter and how I'm moving in one day. Aside from just being my second parents, you're the cool, fun parents because you don’t yell at me when I make a mess, and I don’t have to talk to you about my G.P.A. this semester.

I hope that this letter can give you a glimpse into how grateful I am for the impact that you’ve had on my life.

Thank you for everything,

Your child’s best friend