"The biggest ingredient in a best friend is someone whose actions you respect and who you can truly be yourself around." -Renee Olstead


Cheyenne,

I wanted to start this letter off by saying that you're the most loving, caring, and most beautiful friend I have. And I wouldn't trade you for the world.

When I was nine years old, I met the person who'd forever change me as a person. There she was, in Sabbath school, at church. Where did she come from? I'd never seen her before. Little did I know, this curly-headed girl from Las Vegas would become one of the biggest blessings in my life.

We were raised very differently. You were raised Buddist, I was raised Adventist. You were raised with two other siblings. I was only raised with one. You were from a single parent home, I wasn't. But despite our differences in upbringing, we could come together and bond over the things we did have in common.

We bonded over our love for music and dancing, we bonded over our senses of humor and laughing, we even bonded over being in class together and having the same interests in school. We were different on the outside, but it always felt like we were cut from the same cloth on the inside.

But you already know all of those things, you lived it with me! I suppose I'm writing this letter to you so that you know how grateful I am. Grateful for you and everything you've done for me, grateful for our friendship we've shared for nearly 12 years, and grateful for the time we've shared together.

But this month I feel especially grateful.

Less than 100 years ago, you and I wouldn't have been allowed to be best friends. We are different only by the color of our skin and we wouldn't have been allowed to bond over our differences. And that breaks my heart.

I'm grateful for the men and women who fought to dissolve segregation. Who fought for equality for the generations after. I'm grateful for people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who spread the words of love through all of the hate. Without people like him, you and I wouldn't have had to opportunity to know each other like we do now.

I'm grateful that my best friend is a smart, talented, and beautiful African American woman. Who is proud to be exactly who she is and is proud of her heritage.

I am proud to have you as my best friend and I will stand beside you when things get hard, I'll stand beside you when things seem unfair, and I stand beside you for the rest of our friendship.