Dear old friend,
I want you to know that if we are no longer friends, it’s okay. Life happens. Friendships are fun and spontaneous, but they’re also messy and can be broken. So, in the midst of life, if we somehow fell apart I am sorry. If I could say anything to you, it would be thank you.
To the friend who moved away:
It wasn’t easy when you moved. I understand you didn’t have a choice, but I lost a huge part of my life when you moved. I missed having someone to tell all my embarrassing moments to. I missed the spontaneous, last-minute sleepovers we had. I missed being able to see you every day at your locker. I missed, well, all of it. It became more and more difficult to stay in contact, even though we said we would. The reality is we had to move on. We had to keep going and find new people that could meet us at our locker or come over last minute. I want you to know, though, I never forgot about you. I think about you from time to time . . . I laugh at the inside jokes we had and the nicknames we had for each other. I miss you. I hope we can get together and it will be just like old times. But friend, I need you to know—I am a better person for knowing you so thank you.
To the friend who found new friends:
Okay, the title seems a bit harsh. Friend, I don’t believe you chose new friends over me. We simply grew up and found different friends in high school. We drifted apart and that’s okay. I still gave you a wave or smile if I saw you in the hallway. We weren’t mad at each other, we just changed over the years. I want you to know, though, that I still care about you. If anyone ever were to talk poorly about you, I’d back you up immediately. You still have me as a supporter cheering you on through life. So, even if you have moved on, just know I still think of you from time to time and I am grateful for the time when we were friends, so thank you.
To the friend who hurt me:
I don’t know what happened. I want to say we were just young. Naive. Just trying to learn who we were in this society. But, it still hurt when we fought. It still hurt when you backstabbed me. It still hurt when you turned our friends against me. It all hurt, and quite honestly it is hard to remember the good memories. However, from time to time I do remember the good times. They were sweet snippets of life that were fun and timeless. I remember the late night laughs. I remember telling each other our secrets. Our crushes. Our dreams and desires. It was a sweet time of life, but it was also a vulnerable one. We were young girls trying to navigate middle school—the hardest years of our lives. We’re probably still discovering who we are. We are still messy. Still broken. We don’t ever have to be friends again, we’ve both moved on. I want you to know, though, that I’m grateful for our fallout. It taught me how to be strong when my world seemed to fall apart. It taught me to turn the other cheek, even when you slapped me the first time. It taught me to forgive but never forget how I should never be treated. It taught me to love the good moments, as they will be gone too soon. So thank you, old friend. I really hope you are doing well.
And to my friends now, thank you for being absolute rockstars. You are there through thick and thin. You are my encouragers and my supporters. I really love doing life with you and hope I will get to for a very long time. Thank you for being you, friend.