Throughout my life, there's only one person who I genuinely knew was my best friend, and no one else's. Her name is Sabrina. We met in kindergarten under the circumstance that I was too socially awkward to try to make friends and she pitied me for sitting alone building my wood-chip mountains on the playground.
From the moment we became friends, I was under the impression that we would be best friends forever, however, that didn't end up becoming our reality. Sometimes fate gets in the way. Her father was offered a higher-paying job a couple states over, and they jumped at the opportunity. I do not remember much from my childhood, but I will never forget the last few weeks of third grade, when she broke the news that she was moving away and wouldn't be returning for fourth grade. This news put a serious strain on our relationship, considering we were in elementary school and we were being ripped apart from each other with minimal means of communication.
We easily could have given up right from the start, but we chose to purchase stationary and write letters to each other, in addition to talking on the phone. This plan worked great throughout fourth and fifth grade. As the years passed, I would forget to send letters back. Not only that, it was becoming more apparent that we were growing into two completely different people.
At the time, it scared me because we had less to talk about and I couldn't talk to her without worrying I was offending her. We both grew up with strict parents, but I was rebellious and she stuck to what she was told. I filled with rage and bitterness, while she was calm and cool. We didn't have any common interests anymore and I wasn't quite sure if we ever had, or if it was our situation that kept our friendship alive in the first place.
Now, I've become more accepting of our fate all those years ago because without her, I may not even be a writer. I started writing my first story with you and even though you left, I continued, because my imagination was my main coping mechanism after you moved. My writing was the only thing I could escape to for comfort. You helped me become more open to talking to other people. Your move forced me to step out of my comfort zone. Your move taught me that there are things in life that occur that you can't change, no matter how many times you try.
To this day, I can't help but wonder how different we would both be had you never left. I've imagined it in my head more times than I can count. Who knows, maybe we would still be best friends.
