I've always been lucky. Every since I was little I was blessed with one of the best things to ever happen in my life, other than my family obviously. I was blessed with a best friend. We met in preschool, even though we told everyone we were born by each other in the hospital (we're six months apart).
I don't remember the first day we talked, I just have one vivid memory and after that, we were friends. It was so early that it was still light outside, and my mom had dropped me off at the daycare in Sumter, SC, McElveen's, now it's called something else. We were about to go eat breakfast but I was sitting on the floor eating pretzels out the jar and building my link-a-log community when she walked up. Her hair was so curly and she had a huge grin on her face. Maybe we played together before but I didn't remember, but today I was going to remember her. She knelt down and just began playing with me and helping me with my community like we had always been friends. Who knew that she was going to be my best friend?
We continued to go to day care together, go together at local events, ran away from our parents, and we also went to church together. Then it was time for Kindergarten and guess what? She was there.
We were always together.
We grew up together, all of my childhood memories are together. She was one of the only friends who got to sleep over at my house, she helped me paint my sister comforter (she stood behind me and told me it wasn't a good idea), and she always shared her toys. She was like the twin I never had and I was the sister she never had. We were inseparable.
When middle school came around at the Catholic school her mom took her out and put her in public school. I didn't have a cell phone then so the only time we could talk was if I called her house number and asked her mom to speak to her or if we wrote each other letters, and yes... we wrote each other letters. You know the ones where you cry on the paper and then circle the tear drop to show her how much you miss her. We stayed in touch for a little while, but we both went to make new friends in the schools we were out.
Then MySpace happened, and thank God for MySpace because that's when we started to hang out again. She invited me to her soccer games and I'd go. We started to hang out on the weekends again and it was like no time had passed at all. She convinced me to convince my parents to let me play travel soccer and eventually she was the only person in high school I even spoke to. She was at the public high school and I was still stuck in the Catholic school where I was miserable, but we were still best friends. Eventually, my mom decided that I could transfer to the public school, where my then boyfriend was going, but I was really only transferring to be with my best friend; the only person in my life that understood me and knew everything I had gone through.
I made new friends at the public school but I was always with her. We told each other embarrassing things, went on double dates together and hung out almost every weekend. We were BEST FRIENDS FOR LIFE.
Then college happened and we tried to stay close. I join a sorority my first semester, and she her second semester. We both became so busy. We got together on breaks but we rarely went to see the other. We were both trying to get our feets wet in the "real" world. I started dating a guy and she didn't like him and I did the dumbest thing I could've ever done. I picked my boyfriend over my best friend. With everything we had gone through, I was the one to pick a boy over the one girl who had been there with me thick and thin. In my mind at the time I didn't see it as picking him over her, I was blindly in love with this guy, so blind I started to just exclude her from my life... one of my biggest mistakes to this day.
After said guy and I broke up for good, I reached out to her. I tried to pretend like nothing happened; like I didn't betray someone I loved... it never felt right. It started off slow, a "hey" every now and weeks of nothing. I was starting to realize that maybe I had lost her for good when it could've been easily avoidable.
Then something happened, she was in town, she asked me if she could come over and I said yes. I thought it was going to be awkward but again it was like we just picked up where we left off, but not the bad place. She understood what happened and although it still hurt her she didn't hold that against me. She just wanted to know how I'd been and I wanted to know how she'd been.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm so grateful for the friend that was put in my life when I was only four and I want to tell her, thank you. Thank you for all the laughs you brought and all the tears you helped me dry. Thank you for being the twin I always wanted and for being the one person I could always count on. Thank you for letting me back into your life when I probably didn't deserve it and thank you for taking the time to wait when you knew I'd come back.
Sheetal Tadiparty
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