Hi Tay,

I hope that you're having a great birthday! I know I just saw you three days ago, but for your birthday I wanted to write about our long distance friendship. I've known you forever and we've seen each other through so many ups and downs. You are definitely someone who will always have a special place in my life.

You and I became friends at a really young age. We grew up dancing and competing at the same dance studio and both of us loved swimming. I remember how most of the other girls would get tired of being in the pool, but not us. We would be in there for hours, until our skin was pruny and wrinkled, pretending to be mermaids. Our friendship was born in those early days, in the studio and under the water.

Around our intermediate and middle school years, we were still friends and we still danced together, but we definitely weren't as close. We both found a love for tap at that point and bonded over it, but otherwise we didn't hang out that much. I'm glad now that we had that point in our lives when we weren't super close, because it gave us time to grow and become our own people, which is probably part of why we made such great friends later on.

I remember the exact night that we became best friends in high school. One night I was bored and texted our mutual friend Kourtney, asking if she had any plans for the evening. She replied that she was headed over to your house with our other friend Ameeya to watch "Les Miserables." I 1000% invited myself to that watch party, which is not usually like me, but I'm so glad that I did it. We all watched "Les Mis," cried a ton, had a long, deep talk and built a cushion barricade at the end of the night, looking for my phone by the couch.

From then on, you and I were inseparable. I convinced you to join the theater department, which I will forever and always take full credit for. We went through two homecomings and a prom together. We had numerous bonfires and ridiculous adventures, two cruises, several "Teen Wolf" and "Supernatural" marathons (I forced you to start watching "Teen Wolf," you forced me to start watching "Supernatural"), plenty of car rides, a YouTube channel, lots of improv and choreography sessions, a hundred hugs, a thousand tears, a million laughs to make up for them and the pictures to document it all. You were my ride or die best friend and I would never take any of it back.

Thank you for always being there for me. I appreciate the fact that even after a year and a half of us being in different places, rarely texting (because we both suck at keeping in touch) and not getting to see each other all that often, I know I can still trust you with anything. You are one of the few people I know I can be completely honest with and you won't judge me at all. I love that we can see each other and pick right back up where we left off, making stupid jokes, telling stories and always keeping each other up to date on the latest drama. Our friendship has definitely stood the test of time and I'm so thankful for it. I know that we both have our own college lives now, but if you ever need anything, never hesitate to hit me up. You are the most loyal, honest, kind-hearted person I know and you're going to make a rad nineteen-year-old. Enjoy the last year of your teens!

Love,

Hay