Last Thursday morning started out like any other typical day, but within a few minutes, my world was left flipped upside down. The day began when my alarm went off, waking me up right on time at 8:00 a.m. As I rolled around my bed, enjoying the last few minutes of warmth and comfort, I unlocked my phone screen to check my notifications. Checking my social media pages with my eyes half open had become a morning ritual, and an excuse to stay in bed for a couple extra minutes. However, on this particular morning, my jaw dropped open when I opened my Facebook newsfeed. I was bombarded with post after post from my community grieving the loss of my friend. Apparently, just hours prior, he had overdosed and died during the night. I stared at my screen waiting for the posts to disappear, I didn't think this could possibly be real. He was only 21 years old and had his whole life ahead of him. He was just a kid. As the harsh reality sunk in, I felt tears fill up in my eyes. Reading about all of my friend's happy memories with him made me overwhelmed and I slowly began to remember all of the amazing times I had with him and how they shaped me in to the person I am today. In the past few days, I have learned that losing a friend to addiction is a very hard loss to process. To help cope, I have written an open letter to the friend I lost to addiction and I hope that anyone who is going through or has gone through a similar loss can relate.

While you are up in heaven now, it seems like just yesterday we were hanging out just being kids. I will never forget how you let me come over every night of the week to watch endless episodes of Bob's Burgers on Netflix or shows on the cooking channel. I will never forget your passion for cooking and the amazing late night snacks you'd whip us up in your PJ's at two in the morning. I will never forget your daily texts that got me through a long day at school. I will never forget the nights my best friend and I came to visit you at work, and you made us the best hot wings we've ever had. I will never forget the family dinner you invited me over for and the effort you put into that home cooked meal. I will never forget staying up late drinking beer and playing pool with you and your friends on Friday nights. While all of these moments may seem insignificant, they all made me extremely happy at a time in my life when I felt kind of lost. The friendship you offered me was so sincere and you were one of the few people I could be completely real around.

As time went on, we started going down different paths and as you got more into drugs our friendship started to drift apart, but I never meant to walk out of your life. I always respected you and thought highly of you as a person. And while I will not get to see you again in this life, I will always look back on these good times and smile. I am lucky I was able to have a good friend like you in my life during high school and I am happy for the all the great memories we will forever share. Fly high. You will be missed more than you know.