First off all, congratulations! You have completed all you needed to in order to receive your diploma and finally from graduate high school. There are so many things I want to say to you on this day, which is essentially the biggest day of our lives.
I am so proud of you.
The pride and happiness I feel, looking at you dressed in your bright blue cap and gown is unexplainable. There were so many moments when it seemed like life was too much and you would never make it, but you did it. You always persevered and pushed yourself through and here we are, at the finish line. I couldn't be prouder.
You are going to accomplish so many incredible things.
With your strength, thirst for knowledge and passion, I know you are destined to do so many incredible things in this life. You are so smart and talented and you have the power and ability to do literally anything you set your mind to.
I am so blessed to have grown with you.
Not just physically, from the stages of bright blue eye shadow and mix matched socks, but as people overall. I am so glad that fate brought you and I together and gave us the strength (and sometimes patience) that it took to help one another grow. I have seen you go from an angsty fourteen year old to a strong, beautiful eighteen year old, who's ready to take the world by storm.
I'm sorry.
For all of the times that I should have said it, and I didn't. I'm sorry for the moments when I wasn't as good a friend to you as I should have been. I'm sorry I almost let that irrelevant person ruin our friendship. I'm sorry for the times I couldn't come through on a promise.
Thank you.
Thank you for the love and support you have given me. Thank you for pushing me to be better, for pushing me to try harder, and for scolding me when I got too far off track. Thank you for not judging my poor decisions and for not looking at me differently when I did something you didn't agree with. Thank you for always being my shoulder to cry on, the person I run to for everything, and for your ability to make me laugh. You have blessed my life in the most beautiful way possible.
I am going to miss you more than you know.
The thought of not having you sitting next to me in class is nauseating to me. I can hardly stand to fathom the idea of a life where I don't have you to roll my eyes at, or to converse with through "sighs" in the middle of class. The fact that you won't be just a five minute drive down the road any more is terrifying. I'm going to miss you so much. I haven't left yet, but I'm already looking forward to your coming to visit!
This world is so big.
There is so much out there, beyond this small town and the little school we call our home. There is so much for you to see and do, and I want you to promise me you will go see and do those things. This is and has always been our home — a comfortable place to learn, grow and feel safe, but more than anything I could ever want for you, I want you to get out. I want you to take as many steps from your comfort zone as possible and experience the depths and beauties that this life has to offer you.
This is not the end.
Our friendship does not end when we walk across that stage. You are not my "best friend from high school", you are my best friend. Period. Now that we've reached the end, things are going to change. We are going to go our separate ways, but that does not change our friendship and the impact it's had on my life. Regardless of distance, our hearts are forever intertwined.
We have waited for this day for so many years, and here we finally are. I'm so excited to be sharing this moment with you.
Congratulations, my bestest friend! I love you!
