Over the course of your lifetime, you will have many best friends. You will have the best friend who sat next to you on the school bus and taught you how to tie your shoes. You will have the best friend who you met at summer camp, or playing a travel sport who bonds with you over a shared interest and summer crushes. You will have your college best friend who has seen you at your absolute worst and shared meals of late-night hotdogs and ramen noodles when you were both stressed and poor and realizing that you literally couldn’t survive without one another. All the different best friends in your life will play an important role whether they last a lifetime or are vital in a certain subsection of your existence. But there is another best friend and partner in the ups and downs of life that you absolutely need to have and it should be the person lying next to you in bed every night.
I am dating my best friend. But we do not have one of those cute stories about how we grew up together and always had been best friends and finally realized we were meant to be more. No, and trust me I am the biggest sucker for stories like that! In fact, up until maybe three months ago, I didn’t know my boyfriend even existed and he didn’t know about me either. We’ve since figured out there were a million ways the universe should have thrown us into each other’s paths, but as fate would have it, we somehow weren’t destined to meet until now, (but that’s a story for another time). No. My boyfriend and I weren’t even friends until we met. But I’ll tell you why I know I’m dating my best friend now and it’s because we are choosing to have that type of relationship every day.
Best friends are the people who you can be your 100 percent unfiltered self with and know that you are accepted and valued for that. My relationship with my boyfriend thrives off of this. We tell each other everything. We talk about every topic and every idea and every passion we ever have without feeling ashamed or awkward. He knows my quirks and my fears and the ways I’ve been hurt before. I know the things that worry him and make him feel doubtful. We both agreed to keep the lines of communication open which is why I can talk to him like he’s my best friend.
Best friends are people you can be silly with. The wall I used to keep up, for fear of thinking I am too much, too intense, or that my jokes and craziness would be misinterpreted is gone. I didn’t even realize how easy it would be to take down, after spending so many years on the construction. I found a person who puts my insecurities to sleep. I can be the silly, funny, outgoing girl I am and am constantly subtly reminded that it is a wonderful thing and nothing to be ashamed of.
I am dating my best friend, because since the first day, we treated each other like best friends. There were no idealized expectations, hiding parts of ourselves to seem more interesting or more of a catch. We walked into our relationship openly and honestly and made friendship one of the most important parts. I am so happy to be dating my best friend and I hope that everyone can feel the same way.
