To my cross-country, long-distance, soul mate, sister wife, high school hero of a best friend, this is one is for you. This is for the innumerable amount of snapchats that you send me on a daily basis, because I admit that I have used every background of every photo to piece together my mental picture of your daily life on your college campus over 1,000 miles away. Without this constant photo stream, I swear I would be lost. I wouldn't know the layout of your campus commons, the comfort of your dorm room, the hype of your student body at football games and the distance from your physics lab to your sorority house. So, my dear, thank you for your snapchats.
This is for your constant texting updates. Although they are probably pretty obnoxious for you to send, you don't get to see the huge smile on my face when I receive them. You don't get to hear me tell all my college friends about the hilarious high school mishaps that we experienced together, and you don't get to hear me brag about my ridiculously high standards of friendship. I just hope you know that you were the one who set that bar so unreachably high. For the rest of my life, new friends will have to increase their vertical by at least a foot in order to even graze the bar that you established. So, my love, thank you for your texts.
This one also goes out to your sweet boyfriend, who is willing to Skype me, having never met me before, just so he can receive my ever-important stamp of approval. I know that you are the one who made my approval of him so important, and I want to thank you for that. It makes me feel, loved, important and valued in your life on a daily basis. I hope you know that if I ever successfully trick a gullible boy into entering into a committed relationship with me, I will make your approval of him just as important. I promise two things: that he will know that his place and that his place will come after yours. So, my friend, thank you for your Skype calls.
Lastly, this one goes out to you for destroying the label of “high school best friend." I have realized in college that you are not my high school best friend. You are not my best friend from home. You are not my childhood best friend. You do not deserve to be forced onto a timeline. Our friendship may have a start date, but there is no end date in sight. Thus, you are simply my best friend, and my best friend you will stay. Here's to seven more years of invincible friendship.
