Throughout life, most of us have several individuals who we identify as our best friends. I can count seven or eight people that have held that title in my life at one point or another. However, as easily as each one has slipped into my life, they have also faded into the past.

To my childhood best friend:

Thank you for playing with me every weekend. Thank you for playing dress up with me and asking for sleepovers all the time. Thank you for literally growing with me and learning more about who we are as individuals. I wish we could have kept in touch over the years. Losing you didn’t feel like a loss at the time, we just faded apart.

To the person I thought was my forever best friend:

Losing you was easily one of the hardest things I have experienced. Going from talking and gossiping every day to not even smiling at one another when we pass each other is unbearable. You and I made jokes about growing old and being crazy ladies in a nursing home together one day. I never imagined we wouldn’t even speak in college. You leaving hurt. Bad. But I have grown into someone you wouldn’t recognize today. I am stronger and more resilient than ever before. Thank you for showing me that I deserve a friend that will never do what you did to me.

To my rebound friend:

I’m sorry our best friend-ship was short lived. We hung out 24/7 and spent countless nights together. We shared deep secrets and discussed future dreams. I wish you could’ve been the forever friend that I lost. But you, like my next lost friend, chose a boy over me. And we couldn’t recover from that.

To the girl who chose her boyfriend over our friendship:

Wow. I never saw that coming. You were the one that was supposed to be independent and all about girls not prioritizing guys over their friends. But boy were you hypocritical. When you started canceling plans and spending less time talking to me, I thought it was just because the relationship was new. But as your relationship grew, we stopped hanging out all together and our friendship was over. Just. Like. That.

To the boy I thought would always be my best friend:

Thank you for showing me why I will always need a girl best friend. You were always there for me and sympathetic to everything I was dealing with, but you couldn’t give the kind of comfort a female BFF could give. As much as I appreciate every part of our friendship, thank you for showing me why this new friend should be the one that is my maid of honor one day.

My current best friend:

After all the lessons I have learned about friendships, I really think our friendship is here to stay. You have helped me through so many things and never asked for anything in return. Our time together never fails to be enjoyable, whether it’s a Netflix night or riding out to Starbucks on the scooter, we always have a good time. I am so thankful that God brought us to each other. I know I can always count on you, and I hope you feel the same way about me. Let’s pray we will be best friends forever.