You look so beautiful in your wedding pictures.

That's the only way I saw you on your special day.

I always thought I'd be standing there beside you. I never once believed we would be separated.

As children, we were inseparable. We were partners in crime (because sorting teachers' papers was definitely a crime). We were soul mates. We were best friends. We were sisters.

We didn't grow up down the street from each other. We met by chance in the fourth grade. I was the overweight, quiet, shy girl who was afraid of getting a B. You were the energetic, bright, smiling girl who just made friends easily.

I thought you were weird the first time I met you. I mean, who smiles that much? But then you were nice to me, and we became friends. We rode the same bus home from school.

And then, I came to school one day, and you weren't there. I knew something was wrong because you always told me when you were going to miss. Once the teachers realized I didn't know what happened, they pulled me out of class. Because they knew that we were soul sisters. That was the day I learned you might die.

I cried and prayed for you every night. I wanted to visit you in the hospital as soon as I possibly could, but I had to wait until you were out of the ICU. I made you a dog at Build-A-Bear. Last I saw, you still have it.

But you got better, despite what the doctors thought. You were a living, breathing, talking, walking miracle. I helped you get better after you came home.

You were the first person I told when things were happening at home that shouldn't happen. You told an adult, which made me mad. But I came to understand it later.

Then came middle school. We were still best friends, but we didn't have classes together. And when I was pulled out of school, we saw each other even less.

Then came high school. We were growing up, and growing apart. We held on to our friendship as long as we could, but we were more different now than ever. I was jealous of you. You were pretty and popular. I wasn't. We drifted apart.

If you had asked us, we still would have claimed to be good friends. But the truth was, we were just grasping at strings.

After graduation, we barely spoke. I can probably count on one hand the number of times we have had conversations in the three years since graduation.

Do I ever think about you and the friendship we once had? Nearly every day. You can't spend that much time with someone and just not think about them.

When I scroll through Facebook and see your posts, I always pause. I debate on whether I should message you and strike a conversation. But I never do, because I figure you have better friends than me.

So when I saw that you were engaged, I was ecstatic for you. You deserve that happiness. But I was sad that I wasn't there by your side, as I thought I would be when we were children.

And when I saw the months between your engagement and your wedding fill with parties and presents and happiness, I constantly thought about the friendship that we let wither away.

And when I saw a picture of you in your wedding dress, I shed a tear. Because you were beautiful, still as beautiful as I had ever seen you. Because you were always beautiful.

So through all of this, I just want to say: Congratulations, Childhood Best Friend. I am so happy for you. I hope that your life is full of joy and blessings. I pray that you and your husband are happy and always love each other. And even though we don't talk anymore, I still love you like a sister. Once a soul sister, always a soul sister. No matter the distance, physically or spiritually.