Dear Katie,

I’m going to say a lot in this letter. It may make you cry, or it may make you pee your pants because of all our funny experiences. But, what I do know is that you are going to take this letter to heart… and I love that. So where do I even begin? I feel like I have known you for my entire life, but really it has only been a couple of years. So, let’s go back those couple of years to the day we met.

You may have thought that I was staring at you. Actually, let’s be real… we both know I was staring at you. It was the SADD Conference of 2014, and it was my first time going to this life-changing event. I would never have thought I would have met My Person here. You see, you were at a table directly across from me, and you were staring at me because I was carrying a baby doll. But, it is this very baby doll that is going to change my life entirely. This baby doll, who I named Quentin at the time, was a health project for students to experience what it feels like to be a teen parent. Sadly, we choose to do this assessment the week of the SADD Conference. I was scared shitless. WHY THE HELL DID I HAVE TO BRING A BABY DOLL TO A CONFERENCE FULL OF PEOPLE. I knew I was going to get stared at… and I honestly wasn’t ready for that. So, again, we sat at a table relatively close to yours. When we sat down, my friend and I started to chat about how Pelican Rapids students were sitting right across from us. You guys must have heard us because you kept staring… or maybe you were staring at my baby doll? The world will never know. I noticed you instantly Katie, not even going to lie… you looked super pretty. I instantly told my friend Ashely that I was going to talk to you later. But, I was scared.

Later on that day, the Pelican students and Rothsay students began to talk to each other. This was when I had my first interaction with you. We said hi to each other, and then you asked about Quentin. I explained how it was a project, and you were upset that Quentin was just a regular baby doll and not one that cried. I laughed so hard that day. In the days to come, you would hear me play piano, dance with me, make random phone calls at 11 PM to our friend that we both knew, and finally receive my number at the end of the conference because I worked up the courage to ask you for your number. I was so excited when I got your number because I knew that I was going to be able to get a friendship out of this situation.

We grew apart shortly after this conference though. I really don’t know what it was, and no I didn’t hate you like you thought I did. Not to mention that it was my Mom who was with me when you avoided me in Ben Franklin that one day. I know we both will never forget my passive aggressive text to you, “Just so you know I saw you.” To this day, this is something that we like to joke about. We both say how we didn’t hate each, but we joke around every single time we go to a Ben Franklin’s store because it will be forever known as the store that you avoided me in.

I remember when we started talking again. I invited you to my Graduation party, to which you admitted that you were afraid to come because we haven’t talked in years, and I was excited to finally see you again. You pulled up to my yard that day, and I saw that you were with someone. This, someone, was Erin, who I was finally also meeting for the first time. I was kind of excited to meet her because she was weird and already followed me on all my social media platforms (Erin, if you are reading this… you are kind of a stalker). Although you didn’t stay long, and Erin didn’t say anything to me; I knew that I was going to make you my friend again.

I talked to you the very next day and didn’t even think that I was going to receive a response from you. I thanked you for taking time out of your day to come visit me, and to be honest, it sounded needy. But you responded and gave me your phone number and snapchat with it. I knew that I was finally going to be friends with you. A lot happened that summer after my graduation party, and honestly, I don’t regret any of it. Let me tell you about the things I remember for that summer.

The first time we hung out after my party was to just go to Target. Really, I just wanted an excuse to be able to hang out with you, and you fell for it. Not even kidding, all we did was drive to Fergus Falls and come back. To be honest, I don’t even remember going to Target with you. But its fine. After I dropped you off, I knew that I was going to contact you after I got home. I told you I had so much fun, and you agreed. We started to plan the next time we were going to hang out, and honestly, the next time we hung out tore a few things apart, literally.

We decided to hang out and just drive around the next time we hung out. This was also the first time that I met my actual Twin, Bailey. To this day, I am happy that she decided to come with us on our trip. Now everything was going all fine and dandy until I dropped you back off your car. We were joking about how you should take the cross walk exit out instead of the actual exit of the parking lot. You relentlessly said no, but laughed at the idea. Here’s when everything turned to the worse possible thing ever. I decided to leave, so I threw my car in reverse and started backing up. Except, I didn’t make it very far. YOU LEFT YOUR CAR DOOR OPEN AND I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW. I practically took off our door in my plastic ass Saturn Ion. I still don’t know to this day how I did so much damage to your car, but only broke the mirror off my car. I was in shock when this happened. I hit the cop’s daughter’s car. You called your Dad and explained to him that I broke your car door. Once you got off the phone with him, you explained to me that it was his car… his favorite car to be exact. Boy, I was shitting buckets at this point. The only thing that kept coming through my mind was that I blew my friendship with you and that I was going to jail. When he showed up, he began to ask me what happened. Katie, I was scared for my fucking life and shaking. Honestly, I still to this day don’t understand why he loves me. You always say I’m one of his favorites and that its saying a lot when he says that. I’m blessed to have Papa Jeff in my life now, even when I take my car mirror off for a second time (even though this one wasn’t my fault).

Katie, I know that I have only been explaining how we became friends, but now I want to talk about how thankful I am to have you. Katie, you see me at my worst times possible. You have seen me when I’m tired and crabby like on Black Friday, and when I honestly wish I was dead. You are the reason I am still here to this day Katie. You help me through everything in my life. You make me feel important, and you are always there for me when I need you most. You have gone through my depression with me, and to have you with me makes me feel like I can go through anything.

Katie, you always find the easiest ways to put smiles on my face. Because of you, I started to watch Grey’s Anatomy. While watching Grey’s Anatomy, I noticed something familiar. Christina Yang and Meredith Grey are the ideal friends in the show. They always count on each other for everything and go to each other when they need anything. This is like you and I, and since Meredith is already your wife—and since Yang is my favorite—we are literally Christina and Meredith. As we both know, the phrase that they use for each other is My Person. In the words of Christina Yang from Grey’s Anatomy “She is the person I would call to drag the corpse across the living room floor. She is my person.” I think this phrase describes our relationship because of how dramatic I am. I always, jokingly that is, say that I’m going to murder someone. You relentlessly say that you would always help me. That is because you are my person. You are the person who would bail me out of jail if I beat the shit out of someone, and after doing so give me a high five and a pat on the back. So, thank you, Katie, for being My Person.

Lastly, I just want to say that I love you. I know that I don’t say it enough to you, and don’t appreciate you far as much as I should, but just know I FUCKING LOVE YOU KATIE! Because you know my personality, you know that I am being serious when I add a swear word into it. Just know I will always be here day and night if you ever need me. College is hard, and we both know how my first year went. So please, if you ever need help… call me. You deserve the absolute best Katie, and I won’t stop until you get exactly that.

Once again, I love you.

Sincerely,

Your Person.