I'll start off by letting you know that no matter how far apart we drift you will always be my forever friend; and I thank God every day that you came into my life and decided never to leave.

When you came into my life we were young. We were old enough that I remember exactly where we met (a birthday party), but young enough which leads me to not remember how we became friends. It most likely had something to do with us both hating the same girl at this party, after all, we still do. You came in at a simple time though; we were both young and happy, naive about the world we were born into.

You left almost as soon as you had came. I had thought it would've been one of those "one time only" friendships where we had simply became friends because we were at the same place at the same time type of thing. To be honest I had forgotten you. Not the memories, or even the friendship. Your parents had thought that Charter Schools were a solid foundation for you so we never really saw each other again: trying to remain and stay in contact was an idea that had lived next to impossible.

But you came back and this time it was for forever. I'm not entirely sure how you had convinced your parents to let you create a Facebook account, but you managed to do it. Just as you had managed to find my account and send me a friend request. That's when it happened.

Nearly three years later, you were the one who brought our friendship back to life, and I love you for that. We had started spending a lot of time together but nothing compared to the amount of time we would within another two years.

I wanted to die and because of you I didn't. My family was newly split up and somehow my mother gained custody of my siblings and I. I turned to hurting myself a lot more than you even know I did. I longed for a place where I wouldn't feel so broken. A place where I knew I was loved, wanted, and safe from the mental and physical abuse.

You became that place for me. At the time I had been so naive still. I thought your parents loved each other -- I mean, we both had, but for me it meant that your family was still whole, and filled with love. I wanted so badly to be a part of it and you let me.

You loved me when I was in my hardest stage to love.

So Here's The Thank You That I Never Actually Told You

Thank you for being my safe haven: you were always the number one person who was there for me when everything in my life fell apart.

Thank you for taking me in: I know it's technically your mom's doing, but you allowed me to stay permanently in your home whenever I (1) couldn't bare to stay in mine (2) got kicked out (3) needed to be safe.

Thank you for offering me everything when I couldn't offer you anything: your clothes became ours, the gaming room became my room, and you always offered me food.

Thank you for protecting me: maybe it was your big sister instincts but you always made sure I was okay, and you never let me be alone when I was bad.

Thank you for loving me: because I know I was never the easiest person to love (fun fact: I'm still not) but you understood that I had a lot going on. You never decided to truly end our friendship and you never abandoned me -- you still haven't.

Thank you for the endless smiles: because every single smile you've ever given me was true and pure. You made me happy when I not only hated myself, but my family, and everyone else.

Thank you for always understanding that whenever I had said "I hate everyone" it excluded you.

Above all, the most important thank you that I've never credited you for

Thank You For Saving Me because without you I would've been stuck in the abuse, I wouldn't know what love is, I wouldn't know happiness, but most importantly I wouldn't know what life is like at 19 years old. So thank you for helping me get to this point and for always keeping me a priority. I love you more than I could ever tell you.