For those of us who have been, we know sleepaway camp is the best of the best of summer experiences. For those who haven’t been, I am sorry. I say it every day, as does everyone else who has been blessed with such a life-changing experience, but camp friends are, hands down, the best friends. The friendships we make there are like nothing else. As eight-year-olds, we’re forced into a cabin with 12 other girls we don’t know and are forced to live with them for seven weeks, so, we make it work. By doing so, we have instantly created an unbreakable bond. We all have so much for which we need to thank those girls who we met on that fateful first day, because none of us would be where we are now without them.

To my camp friends,

I have endless amounts of gratitude for you and for everything you have done for me. This list will not even touch how much you mean to me.

Thank you for being nice to me when I had braces and frizzy hair and wore Justice and Abercrombie from head to toe every day.

Thank you for keeping my secrets and staying up late at night to whisper, even when the counselors told us to go to bed.

Thank you for teaching me how to be extra silly and not feel embarrassed about myself.

Thank you for being by my side when we got in trouble.

Thank you for telling me honestly when I looked awful.

Thank you for teaching me to embrace my true self and loving me for it.

Thank you for pulling me out of bed when I was late for lineup, again.

Thank you for letting me sleep in bed with you when I didn’t feel like putting the mountain of laundry away that had been sitting on my bed for days.

Thank you for sharing your hidden snacks with me.

Thank you for listening to me when I cried about even the most ridiculous things.

Thank you for helping me put in my first tampon.

Thank you for fighting with me, making me tougher and more sensitive at the same time.

Thank you for giving me endless hugs and kisses whenever I needed them.

Thank you for pretending to be excited for me when I’m overly excited about something small.

Thank you for playing wingman for me at socials for the past ten years.

Thank you for encouraging all of my hopes and dreams, no matter how far fetched they may have been.

Thank you for being proud of me for any and all accomplishments, whether it be making the softball team or getting into college.

Thank you for watching me make out for the first time.

Thank you for letting me and everyone else watch you make out for the first time.

Thank you for letting me wear all of your clothes every day all summer and thank you for letting me take your clothes home with me.

Thank you for constantly making me laugh via our group chat even when I’m feeling lonely or sad.

Thank you for resurfacing any and all embarrassing old Facebook posts.

Thank you for being there every step of the way, good or bad.

Thank you for coming to visit me at college.

Thank you for letting me scream at you when I’m mad and thank you for taking it.

Thank you for putting up with my bossy attitude and my lack of a filter.

Thank you for doing some of the dumbest things we have ever done.

Thank you for peeing your pants with me while screaming songs in the dining room.

Thank you for giving me the best advice in the world.

Thank you for letting me be me and loving me endlessly for it.

Thank you for returning to our second home with me summer after summer, even though we need “real jobs” and have to soon embrace “real life.”

Thank you for making the last decade the best I could imagine. Without you, where would I be?