Hey. Hi. Hello.

I want you to know that I understand now. I get what you meant when you told me so honestly, that you needed to take a step back and open yourself up to new people you could learn from. I know now that when you backed away from our friendship, it was so you could grow because our relationship had become a stream of things you had always hated; It became a routine. More than anything, you hated routine that involved wandering around topics such as boys and day-to-day life. It just wasn't enough for you and I respect that so much more two years down the line. Seeing your life from a distance makes me incredibly happy because it seems as though you finally found what you were always desperately searching for, a peace within yourself.

You should know that as surface level as our friendship may have been to you, I learned so many beautiful things from the way you look at life. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss laughing until 4 a.m. on our apartment floor because we were too poor to have any furniture, or the nonsense phrases we had that would spiral into weird conversations about the world on air mattresses in the middle of the afternoon.

I want you to know that I get it now. Whether you read this or never even think about me again, you were such a part of who I am now and I want to thank you. Through all of the monumental obstacles we pushed through together, did you ever think of a time when all the friends we once had would become a memory? I can't be bitter that we grew apart and I certainly can't be angry that it felt like you just left, because you did the right thing. You did something that for most people would have been too difficult to better yourself.

I can't express enough how you have changed my life and continue to from a distance. Thank you for teaching me when it is time to let go of something. Thank you for showing me what it means to appreciate a friendship even years after it has ended, and thank you for being so beautifully different from any human I have ever known. The people in your life now are so lucky to experience your burst of laughter that fills up an entire room, the way you look at the world through a different light and see the beauty in everything. Thank you for being you and showing me who I was meant to be.