To the girl who becomes friends with my best friend,
There are a few things in life that I hold very close to my heart: my dogs, my love for Capri Suns, my family and most of all my best friends. Best friends are the kind of people that when you first meet them, the conversation usually starts with, "What? No way, me too! I thought I was the only one."
Sometimes the conversation can be a little different, as we all develop those relationships with people at different stages of our lives. For some of us, becoming best friends meant sharing your teddy grahams with the girl next to you or sitting next to that guy in your sixth-grade math class. For me, meeting my best friend was an experience at the first-grade level. The day began in Mrs. Stapleton's room in the first and second-grade hallway, and ended in the same dance class that night. The first few weeks of our friendship didn't quite blossom naturally — I mean she couldn't even remember my name, and 12 years later I still won't let her live that down.
Now we are approaching graduation, and suddenly I'm realizing how important she is to me and how much of an impact this one person had on my life. I look back on my elementary years, and there is not one memory that I have that didn't involve her — there's not one field trip we didn't go on together, not one city wide garage sale we didn't bargain together at. These are the bits and pieces that make up my being.
As excited as I am to start this new chapter of my life, and as excited as I am for her, I can't help but be jealous of the people who will ultimately replace me. Our friendship is of the everlasting kind, and I strongly believe that she will be my maid of honor one day, but before chapter six happens, we’ve got to make it through chapters three, four and five — apart. I was fortunate enough to have her in chapters one and two and hopefully chapters seven, eight and nine, but it's the chapters we spend separately that will bring everything full circle.
So, to the girl who will replace my ranking on her favorites list in her iPhone, take good care of her. She's ones of the greatest people I have had the pleasure of truly loving. She loves pretzels and sushi. If she starts to get sad because she's thinking about her grandma, don't say something cliché to make her feel better, because she already knows; just hug her and give her time.
I envy you. I envy you so much. I hope that one day we too can become good friends. I'm giving up pieces of my heart that belong to her, and if you can learn to love her for who she is, then you'll have learned to love some of the most important parts of my life. I can't wait to meet you.
Sincerely,
A girl who was lucky enough to call her their best friend