I firmly believe that the strongest friendships rely on balance. To me, every introvert needs an extrovert. Every chatterbox needs a listener. Every right brain needs a left. Hell, every tall friend needs a short one.

I have always been the shy, nerdy kid. I kept my head down and did my work and never really spoke up much. It was really one of the only complaints that teachers had about me. However, the people I gravitated towards, my best friends over the years, have always been much louder, much more outgoing. From the outside, it may have seemed like I wasn't close with some of them at all, given how much more social they were.

When I started college, I was worried that I wouldn't make any friends. I was the only person from my high school at Quinnipiac at the time and I knew that I would struggle to introduce myself even to my suitemates. On the second night after moving in, my roommate had some friends that she had made at orientation over. A few of my suitemates came and joined us and we soon had quite the little crowd in our room. Some of those people have since become my very best friends, all because they're more sociable than I am.

The strongest friendship I've ever had, a friendship that has saved my life - quite literally - began that night. This girl has become my go-to, my confidante for literally everything. I owe her much more than my life - I owe her my sanity and a good portion of my happiness as well. I've had strong friendships before, even one that's lasted since kindergarten, but I've never found myself quite so open with someone. I've never had a friend that truly embraced all my quirks and weird interests, and even picked up a few of them herself.

So thank you. Thank you for being the extro- to my intro-. Thank you for being the loudmouth to my quiet self. Thank you for being the left brain to my right. Thank you for being the short to my tall.

(The Jason to my Sehyoon, if you will.)

Thank you, best friend.