Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I could type thank you a million times, but no amount of letters on a screen will ever be able to come close to the amount love I have for you in my heart.

Thank you for giving me a life without any drama. Spending all my free time with a bunch of guys who don’t even know what the word grudge means has rubbed off on me. You showed me how to live, not in yesterday or tomorrow, but in the now. Our friendship, a kind without passive aggressive comments or two-face pettiness, is something I hold as a standard. Friendship should be easy and stress free, not something that brings you down. You have given me that gift.

Thank you for never failing to make me laugh. Without you guys I would never know that people actually act on the ridiculous ideas that pass through their minds. Trying to eat an entire box of fruit loops as fast as you can in one sitting at 3 in the morning or holding a contest to see who can jump higher off the wall, resulting in no winner and a giant foot sized hole in the middle of the wall at our gym, are just naming a few.

Thank you for showing me how girls should actually be treated, and never letting me fall for anything less than that. You treat me with respect and admiration, put my feels and happiness above most things and never make me feel like I’m crazy. I watch the way you treat your own girlfriends, and I know that I should never settle for someone who treats me any differently. I know how to tell when a guy actually gives a shit because I have guys in my life that do give a shit.

Thank you for always telling me what I need to hear, even when it’s not what I want to hear. You are never afraid to call me out when I am in the wrong or acting crazy—though I may not like it at like time, I have grown as a person because you have helped set me straight anytime I started drifting in the wrong direction (aka my purple hair phase).

Thank you for helping me become comfortable in my own skin. I never felt like I had to impress you, so wearing makeup has always been a foreign concept to me. The time I feel prettiest, and most like myself, is when my hair is in a bun on the top of my head and my face lacking even mascara. You made me realize that the time I am most beautiful is when I’m just being me.

Thank you for giving me 12 years full of adventures, and 12 years’ worth of embarrassing stories to use against you. There is nobody else I would have rather grown up with.

Thank you for loving me, even when you want to kill me. I don’t know what it’s like to wake up with 17 new texts in our groupchat, all of them from me going off about something you could absolutely care less about, but I can guess it’s pretty damn annoying. Thank you for replying anyway.

But most importantly, thank you for sticking with me for all these years and always always always being there. We have been through so much together, our chubby stages when we were 8, a countless number of middle school break ups, gallons of tears (mostly mine), and now distance. There is one thing I know for sure, though. No matter how far apart we are, or no matter where our adult lives take us, you will always be my brothers because you are a part of who I am. Growing up with you by my side has shaped me into the person I am today, and for that I will forever be grateful. I love you guys so much.