Dear best friend,
It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? We’ve fallen into this same trap yet again. I fly back to South Carolina, and you stay in New Jersey. We try to text, FaceTime, and Snapchat as much as we can, but classes and work get in the way. We go days without talking to each other. Days without any sign of communication. But this always happens the first month away from each other. We have to adapt to being apart, and not spending everyday together laying in the sun and munching on vegan junk food. We both know that no matter how many days we go without speaking to each other, the minute one of us calls and the other finally answers, our mouths won’t stop talking. We both will be overflowing with information and gossip, and things that have happened to us that we find ourselves talking for three hours.
After that first month apart, we find time to talk. We make sure to at least send a text in the morning wishing the other a good day ahead. I find myself thinking back on the summer where we were inseparable. I miss those late night drives with the windows down and music high, sitting on your couch with the tv mumbling about something random while we talk about everything and nothing, trying new vegan food and restaurants and eating until we have to unbutton our pants, going on walks and finding ourselves so into our conversation that we realize how far we’ve walked, laughing until our whole body hurts, inspiring each other daily with some quote we read or some book we devoured in one sitting. I miss being able to let go and not be afraid to be myself around someone. I miss the feeling of content that we both shared around each other.
I find myself comparing the few friends I have here at school to you. I find that our friendship is so unique and powerful and different, that no other friendship I’ve had compares. No matter how far we go, we both know that no one other friend or person could ever reach the friendship level we are at. No matter how many miles separate us, you will always be my number one best friend. The person I call right away as soon as something embarrassing or amazing happens to me. The person I cry to when that boy I was talking to plays with my feelings. The person I text at 2am, drunk, confessing all my secrets (even though you already know all of them). But I also realize a few things as well, being apart from you for so long. No matter what kind of communication we share, nothing has changed. You are still filled with sunshine and light, and can still make me pee my pants from one of your jokes. I still find myself feeling like no time has passed when we finally reconnect when I’m home during breaks. It’s like we’ve never been apart.
So, thank you. Thank you for continuing to stick by me even when you are in New Jersey, and I am here, in South Carolina, far from that sanctuary we created together. Thank you for always listening to me rant, whether over the phone or in person. Thank you for your constant postivity and inspiration. Thank you for not letting our friendship dwindle down just because of the milage between us. Thank you for deciding to be my partner on that project in Creative Writing our senior year of high school. Thank you for working with me at Sears and making me feel like I could fly from happiness. Thank you for becoming my other half during that same year, and opening my eyes up to so many things. It seems like I could go on and on thanking you, and that’s because I can.
I am so incredibly thankful for you and our friendship. Thank you for being you, and knowing that that is good enough. You are enough. You are beautiful. And you will always be my best friend.