You left without a warning, note, text or phone call. You left me no explanation and we basically, haven't spoken since.

We had been friends from the 5th grade till graduation, that's 7 years. 7 years of friendship, sports, bonfires and trouble making that I wouldn't trade for anything and honestly I wouldn't trade the way you left either. It is only a recent decision (yes, it was a decision) to not care that you left so rudely and abruptly.

The reason being? You have taught me so much.

You have taught me that not to take things for granted.

You leaving was so abrupt that I didn't have time to even think about it until long after it happened. You were there so consistently and then all of a sudden you were gone forever and that has made me put more time, effort and appreciation into my current relationships.

You have taught me the true meanings of the saying "Friends will come and go but family is forever."

I have a couple of friends that I would consider more like family and in high school, I thought that you were one of those friends. You leaving showed me differently and that made me look harder into my other relationships. I now know who is going to stick by my side through thick and thin.

You have taught me how easy it can be to follow "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

For a long time all I wanted was to be able to have a conversation with you about why you left. Honestly, I still wouldn't mind getting answers. I had many opportunities to approach you and try to get those answers from you back then but I felt it wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth it to me for two reasons; the first being that I was afraid that what you had to say was going to hurt me more than not knowing. The second reason being that I knew what I had to say was not going to be very kind and you weren't and still are not worth that negative time and energy.

You have taught me that feeling alone is okay.

When you left, I had very few other places to turn or at least that is how I felt at the time. You were my constant, my everyday, my best friend and while I obviously had other friends to turn to, you were who I wanted. But you weren't there and that forced me to pick myself up and move on.

Many friends come and go and you just happened to be one of them. Thank you for those 7 years of friendship, for teaching me so much without even realizing it and for being a part of the reason I am who I am today.

I truly hope that life is treating you well and that you are happy.