Friends may come and go,

But family is for life.

That's what they tell me, anyways.

But what about the friends that feel like family?

The friends you give your all to,

The friends you can envision a future with?

Living across the hall from each other in New York City,

Groomsmen and bridesmaids,

Godmothers and godfathers,

Eternal neighbors...

What happens to them?

Contrary to popular belief,

They leave too.

I've always believed that people either stay in your life forever,

Or only make an appearance to teach you something.

And let's just say that our "forevers"

Seemed to fly by a lot quicker than the label read.

And I've always wondered what I would say in the event of confronting them all...

Dear "Jenna,"

Thank you for being my first friend,

You got me through the first day of kindergarten,

And every day until we went from being Roadrunners to Flying Tigers.

Thank you for all the fights.

The tears I cried because of you.

The times I couldn't tell if we were friends or not.

Thank you for making sure I had insecurities before I knew what they were.

Thank you for making fun of me every time I wanted to do the right thing.

Thank you for teaching me early on how to stay true to what I believed in,

Even if I'm going against my best friend.

Thank you for the memories;

Getting locked out of the house while swimming in the rain.

Hiding from Sasha in your mom's bathroom.

Logging onto Club Penguin with our Build-A-Bears in hand.

Our secret conversations over the Nintendo DS chatroom.

Our sleepovers,

Our karaoke sessions,

Our trip to Utah,

Showing me 50 First Dates for the first time,

Convincing the world that we were sisters,

Planning our parents' wedding,

And everything in between.

I will never not smile when I see you.

Dear "Laura,"

I have no idea what happened.

Somewhere in the middle of FaceTiming every chance we got,

And thinking I'd never see you again,

Our spark just burned out.

You left and came back,

And seeing you in my English classroom on the first day of 7th grade gave me hope.

Maybe, just maybe, we could go back to the way things were?

But, much to my dismay, ours was not the kind of friendship that could pick up where it was left off after months without contact.

We used to be conjoined at hip.

My Jew-ish family would spend Christmas with yours.

Our dads used to have a bromance,

And I could truly be myself around you.

Today, my dad sees your family and reverses direction.

I offer the friendliest conversation I can muster,

And you act as though we never shared any connection.

Do you hate me?

Dear "Mikayla,"

Distance is the only thing that broke us.

I hope you and your family are doing well.

I still feel bad for ruining your birthday party,

But the emergency room has a way of turning into really interesting stories.

I will never forget how good you guys were to me.

I'm very grateful,

And I would love to catch up sometime.

Dear "Eliza,"

I sincerely miss you.

I regret having you on this list,

But I suppose it was inevitable-

I was never able to keep up with a diary.

Dear "Travis,"

I understand.

Thank you.

Dear "Julia,"

Maybe we'd still be close if not for the age gap?

If I'd gone to high school with you?

I'm glad I still get to see you.

Dear "Nicole,"

I never stopped caring about you.

I understand that we both developed different social groups,

And that's okay.

I'm happy that you're still part of my life,

Even if we're not as significant anymore.

Dear "Not Worthy of an Alias..."

There's a reason I saved you for last.

It's because I think back on our time together,

And there's one thing that sets you apart from the rest.

I look back on them,

And if I had the chance to know them all over again,

I would.

There are memories that make me nostalgic,

Memories I wouldn't mind keeping with me as the years go by.

You, on the other hand?

I would just like to forget you.

Everything about you.

Your personality, your face,

The way your hugs felt when you would actually give me one,

Everything you ever did or said to or about me-

Even the good is tainted by the bad.

You destroyed me.

We've gotten to the point where your name cannot be brought without me scoffing or rolling my eyes.

I will never again choke on the lump in my throat,

I will never let another tear escape my eyes in your name.

People still ask me about you,

And I have to relive the way you left.

The cowardly, insensitive, disgusting way you left me.

The simple text that is credited for all of my trust issues.

The message I blame for a good portion of my self doubts.

The only good reason for remembering you

Is that maybe I'll stop being naïve,

Maybe I'll be aware and never again get involved with anyone like you.

You mock my idols-

Dalton went farther than Mackenzie, get over it.

You spoiled the series finale of How I Met Your Mother for me

Even when I begged you not to.

It doesn't seem like much, but I'm still bitter.

You hit me when I insulted myself,

Like a dog that needed negative reinforcement-

I understand the intent, but seriously?

You pushed my boundaries,

Yelled at me when I hurt myself-

Never comforting, always blaming.

You were mentioned in each draft of the same suicide note.

I actually let you ruin my first year at camp-

CAMP-

Thank you for not coming back.

And you did it all without batting an eye.

How dare you?

How dare you take an innocent girl and break her heart, mind, and spirit

And still have the audacity to call her your best friend?

Tell her you love her?

You never loved her,

Never cared about her-

You didn't know how.

You only had your best interest in mind.

And you will never get to see how happy she is without you.

You see, the difference between you and the others is that I have positive things to say about them.

I keep racking my brain,

But I cannot come up with a single decent thing to say about you.

You meant the world to me once,

And I regret it.

I regret putting my happiness in your hands-

There was no room for anything next to your ego.

That was my bad.

I treated you with too much respect,

Gave you too much power,

Cared too much about you,

And I accept responsibility for that.

But can you?

You know, family is often brought up in therapy sessions.

The root of all problems,

And I realize that it's no coincidence I once called you my twin.