Dear Ex-Best Friend,

Hey, you. How are ya doing? I hope all is well with you. I wish we could go back to the way things were when we were little kids.

We grew up together and as the dynamic duo we were virtually inseparable. Everything about our lives was very similar — our families are both active, we went to the same grade school, we were raised with same values and our parents were more than just friends, they worked together. We carpooled everywhere and slept at each other's houses on the regular. Our older and younger siblings, respectively, were fairly close to our age, so we could kick it with our own little gang. Our houses are a mile apart, so summers with you were always the best. We spent countless hours building a fort in a woods by my house, reading Harry Potter and acting out the movies, playing in the empty lots in your neighborhood, going to the pool every day and we even swam on the same relay teams. You were my blonde sister five months my senior.

As we grew older, we started to drift apart, as one often does with friends, but we still shared a deep, seemingly unbreakable bond. I thought that you and I would always be there for each other- the other's silent protector. But I was so wrong.

Spring of 2008 rocked my world as our friendship was destroyed because of family disagreements. My grandma always taught me that there are always two sides to a story. I'm not here to talk about my side of the story because I know that it is vastly different from you and your family's version. But, you and I can both agree that things between our families ended terribly. And we were stuck in the middle.

What's done is done. The damage is irreversible. Words and actions from both parties will never allow anything or anyone to return to the way they were before the falling out. A business was ripped apart (almost ruined), enemies were made, four men no longer speak, two wives (former best friends themselves) can no longer be in the same room, sons and daughters can no longer bear to look at former mentors who were almost family, and two little girls' friendship was obliterated. As time has progressed, I have started to heal and think about you. I do miss you.

Out of the whole mess, we have developed a precarious relationship. Having similar interests and backgrounds, we've run into each other from time to time. Seeing that we used to be joined at the hip, we are cordial, though nothing more than just that. I often wonder about you, about your life, your dreams and what could have been our friendship.

Your family's shock blonde hair appears in countless pictures of my family's photo albums. I randomly will find "books" authored by you and I in messy second grade handwriting. People still ask about what happened between us, to which I give a bullshit answer about us fading apart. I've had both nightmares about your mom screaming at mine for no apparent reason, but have also had wonderful dreams about our shared memories.

I just want you to know that, even though we will never be friends again, you show up in my life in countless ways. It really sucks that we were once so close, now never speak. I wish that it could have ended differently. I wish you the very best.

Signed,

Ex-Best Friend, Annie