Everybody talks about how important the friends we make in college are. They tell us that these people will become the company we keep for the rest of our lives. Why don't we talk about the friends we had before? The people that helped us get to where we are? I'm someone who doesn't have a ton of very close friends. I have a wide group of people who I'd call my friends, or acquaintances, but only one or two people who really know me. Let me start by saying that best friend break ups suck. I haven't broken up with my best friend, but I've had plenty of best friend break ups, and each one left me more and more fragile than the last. Everybody wants to find their person, someone who knows us better than we know ourselves, someone who we can call at any hour about anything. With every friendship that I lost, it seemed more and more impossible that I was going to find my person.

Fast forward to August, 2014. I was fresh off a breakup -- boyfriend breakup -- and attempting to wrangle a rowdy kindergarten class at the daycare where I worked. Our boss introduced us, and I remember feeling slightly annoyed. Crazy kids + new teacher + emotional instability = annoyed Regan. But as we sat on that playground and began to realize we hated the same people, I couldn't help but decide we had to be friends. After several pedicures, trips to the antique mall, painting your bedroom and countless meals at every surrounding restaurant, we became fast friends. It was hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I would be leaving for college the next year, and as the months went on I knew it was going to get harder and harder to have to leave you behind.

We made the most of our last summer together, trips to San Marcos, Cody Johnson concerts, late nights spent planning our revenge plots against the boys who did us wrong, and days spent laying out by the pool. I kept telling myself that 45 minutes really wasn't so bad, but after spending our summer being ten minutes away, it was going to seem like hours. I was afraid my moving away was going to be the end of us. Everyone always says that they'll keep in touch, and in the beginning they do, but eventually it all dies down. Luckily for us, every time I come home it's like I never left. We always pick up right where we left off.

Katie, you are so beautiful, inside and out. I am so lucky to even know you, let alone be so close to you. Nobody makes me laugh like you do, and nobody gets me like you do. People are better for knowing you. You are so kind and caring. You put 100 percent of yourself into everything you do and it really shows. Thank you for always having my back, and for always thinking of me. Thank you for always telling me like it is. Whether it's about boys or my outfit or my hair, you keep it real. But most importantly, thank you for being the best friend I've ever had. Here's to all the adventures and memories we still have left to make.