It’s nice to have reunions with your closest friends. Even if you haven’t seen them in a long time and school and adulthood and life keeps you busy. And someone moves to the south side of the country. I was lucky to have a chance to meet up with two of my best friends since my childhood for brunch, not once, but twice this year. There were a lot of laughs, a lot of smiles, and all in all, a good time catching up and even reminiscing a bit. But during both of those times, we had a fourth member missing. The only one out of us who’s still in school and attends a school a bit farther away from our town. Her absence is acknowledged in the hangouts, and it's kind of a bummer that now the girl-boy dynamic is uneven.

I do miss you, friend. I know we haven’t talked or had an actual conversation in a while, other than one little exchange through Instagram, but I miss you. Remember when we were practically inseparable? We banded together, being the only young girls on our street, and shared inside jokes that even the guys weren’t able to understand. It was entertaining to see them react to our craziness. And there were definitely some big boys vs. girls moments (the girls always won, right? Right).

I hope college’s treating you well. The struggle is definitely real. I believe in you though, and know you can kick through the nasty exams, unpleasant professors, and heightened peer pressure like a champ. You seem like you're having a great time from what I’ve seen in your Instagram and snap stories and it looks like you’ve made a ton of new friends. I hope they know how lucky they are to have you in their life.

Remember the good times we had together? Swimming in your pool and jumping on your trampoline. Having sleepovers even though we were literally five seconds away from each other. All those videos we made on my computer of us at our weirdest and silliest. And sharing our love for "Harry Potter" (you’re probably not as obsessed now as we were when we were kids, but that’s okay, I’m not either...to an extent...).

Remember when you joined me in high school? I was ready to act as the typical “older sister”/mentor, but you seemed to have found your way okay easily. I’d bet you would. And when times got a bit rough, I was there, but I was also proud to see you persevere through them. And when you first went to the prom, I was just as proud to have been able to have been there to see you off.

I hope you know that I’m always here for you. Even though we haven’t talked in forever, you’re always my friend and in my heart and thoughts. Even when I’ve been on a bit of an antisocial chapter in my life, I’d love to hear from you and talk to you. It may seem like we’re a bit more far apart than we were, but I hope that doesn’t change anything about our friendship and who we are to each other.

You were pretty much one of the first female friends I’ve had in my life. That is something I will hold forever. We’ve been there for each other since we were just little, itty-bitty kids. Not many of my friends can say they have that. Our bond is tight, and special, and unique.

So, here’s to you, best friend. Who knows, maybe, hopefully, someday, when the guys are around, and set for another brunch, you won’t be at your college 118 miles away, and we’ll all be able to meet up and have lunch and catch up on the good old days.

I miss you, buddy. And I love you.