Throughout your life, you meet a lot of people. That’s inevitable.

Some become friends. Even fewer become best friends.

However, you are so much more to me than any title can express.

As I’ve matured, I’ve learned that genuine people with genuine hearts deserve so much more than we give them credit for, and you’re one of those people.

You’re also one of the people that I am going to have the hardest time saying goodbye to.

I guess I am writing this just to say thank you.

Thank you for always checking on me between classes over the years.

Thank you for always making sure to say “I love you” before hanging up the phone.

Thank you for all of the food you’ve ever shared with me.

Thank you for trusting me with your secrets and keeping mine.

Thank you for sharing your family with me and loving mine as if you were born into it.

Thank you for letting me show you my favorite videos and laughing with me, even if they aren’t that funny.

Thank you for listening to me complain about boys even though I never take your advice.

Thank you for laughing at my jokes, even when I’m already laughing too hard to even get to the funny part.

Thank you for letting me come over just because your bed is so much more comfortable than mine.

Thank you for covering for me when I almost get caught for doing something I shouldn’t have.

Thank you for never saying no to me when I ask you to join me in running errands because you know how much I hate doing things alone.

Thank you for never hesitating when I text you, “Please call me!”

Thank you for always being cool with watching a movie or going to get food with me.

Thank you for always believing in me and motivating me to be better when you know I’m not giving something my 100 percent.

Thank you for being my other half.

We (surprisingly) don’t share the same DNA, but after all of the midnight conversations that never fail to end with one of us in tears, the nap dates that we can’t resist, the shopping sprees neither of us can afford, and swapping clothes so often that neither of us know which piece of clothing belongs to whom, how could I not consider you my sister?

You’ve played a main role in my life for so long.

You have starred in some of my favorite memories, and I wouldn’t have wanted them to feature anyone other than you.

You stay by my side on my best days and love me a little extra on my bad ones.

You know how to make me laugh when all I want to do is curl up in bed and cry.

You know me better than myself which is both terrifying and beautiful.

You never fail to remind me that I am enough and am going to be all right no matter what life throws my way because through it all you’ll be right beside me.

I trust you with every ounce of my being.

You know all the little details of every boy I’ve ever had feelings for, every teacher that’s ever made me want to scream, and every argument I’ve gotten into with my mom.

You’ve become a piece of me that I never want to have to live without.

One day when we’re old, we’ll look back at these memories and laugh as we sit together in either of our big, expensive houses and talk about how far we’ve come.

Having you next to me while I travel down this road called life has made me a better person that I couldn’t have become without you.

I will never be able to thank you enough for that.

Before we take these next few big steps in our lives and go our separate ways, I’ll end this letter with a quote from Elisabeth Foley: “The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.”

So here’s to our years of friendship and a lifetime more to go.

I love you no matter how many miles lay between us.