I want to start out by thanking you for being my friend for more than a decade. It was easy to make friends at the age of seven, but it wasn’t easy to keep those friendships through college. You have been there for me through it all: the Build-A-Bear obsession, the awkward phase, middle school, high school, and you’re there for me now.
We have more than a decade's worth of memories, memories that have made my childhood one to be jealous of. We didn’t have iPhones or Netflix to keep us entertained, so we made our own fun. I feel bad for kids now, they won’t have the same experiences we did. We would play with our toys for hours just imagining the amazing lives we would one day have. Because of those hours of technology-free fun we managed to make a friendship that has endured.
Our friendship has developed just as much as we have. It is incredible to say that after all this time, we have never had a dull moment. People change, and that’s always scary, because you don’t know how this change will affect your friendship. Despite the great changes we have both experienced, our friendship has not faltered.
When we graduated high school and went our separate ways, I thought that would be it for the friendship, but I should’ve known better. Even though we both have new friends, and we don’t talk everyday, I know you’re still there for me. We see each other less and less, but that just makes the times we are together so much brighter.
It’s so strange to me that you’re no longer in all of my stories and memories. You no longer know everything I do, and it is the same for me. Weekly phone calls can help to bridge the gaps, but telling the story to you is not the same as you living it with me. We will never have the same friendship we had when we were eight, or even 18. This friendship is the kind we will tell our children about in the hopes they too will find their person.
The innocence of a childhood friendship is so amazing. We are not friends because we both like to go to the same frat or bar, but because we grew up together. You helped shape me into the person I am today. I can honestly say I would not have been able to get through life without you, my friend.
So, to my childhood best friend, I thank you. I thank you for everything you have done for me, and everything you will do for me. It’s incredible to see the amazing person you have grown up to become. You’re more than a friend, you’re my sister. I love you, and I want you to know that even though we no longer talk or see each other as much as we did when we were younger, you still mean the world to me.
