Dear A and S,

Because we are closing a chapter in our lives and opening a new one, I wanted to write this letter to you. To show you how much you mean to me and what you’ve taught me. So here’s a letter for you both, the whole thing is basically just me bragging about how crazy AMAZING my best friends are. Try not to cry as you read it. Love you guys foreva.

Starting at the beginning, I remember the day we all met, in the cafe. I remember thinking, even though we had just met that I knew we would be friends for a long time. I remember all of the classes, projects, tests, and essays we suffered through. I remember all the times we’ve laughed, cried, and studied together- all of these memories are forever engrained in my mind. I remember how we never left someone out, no matter where they went, whether it was moving home or around the world. And how we always stood by each other, through mean girls and boys, sassy professors and the trials of life. I remember how we were there for each other when we were grieving, over lost loved ones and lost relationships. I remember *almost* all of our inside jokes, babes. I remember the start of our obsession with One Direction (I will probably remember every word of those songs my entire life) and the Kardashians (because why not?).

I remember that right from the start it felt like we had been friends for years.

And that’s a rare kind of feeling, but this is a rare friendship. It's the kind that pushes you to grow and change, while still allowing you to stay the same. It's the kind that teaches you to be a better person, because the people around you are. It's the kind of friendship that thrusts you towards the Lord, allowing you to hang on to the two people beside you. It's the kind of friendship that says, “it's OK if you’re not perfect, we love you anyways”. It's the kind of friendship I desperately needed in college, I just didn’t know it.

You both taught me so many things. You taught me how to be calm when you’re terrified. You taught me how to be strong when it feels like things are falling in on you. You taught me that it's actually really good to go out of your comfort zones. You taught me that you need to chase every dream you have, even the small ones. And most importantly, you taught me how to sneak a whole meal and into the movie theater, lol.

So, I want to thank you both for being my friends. Thank you for loving me so much, and for reminding me that I am loved when I feel unloved. Thank you for telling me that I'm funny and pretty and smart and good at the things I love, sometimes people forget how important it is to tell someone these things. Thank you for keeping me accountable at times and not letting me compromise my faith. Thank you for making me laugh so hard, that it felt like a full on ab workout after. Thank you for sticking with me throughout college, throughout every class, test and paper, because I really needed a friend for that. Thank you for not writing me off as a psycho because I talk too much. Thank you for the many late-night talk sessions, thanks for talking to me about anything and everything. Thank you for letting me just be me and more importantly for letting me become me.

So now as we go out, in our different directions I just want to thank you both and remind you of the past four years. They've been awesome. And I know, no matter where we go we I'll always find our way back to each other, sappy I know.

Love always,

Retrac