Dear High School Best Friend,

As I look back on my memories at North Surry High School, I realized something. You were in all of them. It’s hard to believe that we went from talking every day starting from the age of six to barely talking -- and the fact that we have grown so apart is horrific. I have so much I want to tell you and share with you, but I will only share a few.

I have missed you more than you could have ever missed me. Last year, it finally hit me that you were moving on with a new chapter of your life that didn’t contain me; I was happy for you, but I have had to learn how to exist without being your go-to friend. I know we have had our differences, but never in the years that we have been friends did I ever imagine we would become strangers. I took the time we had together for granted and most days I wish I could get that back because we were more than friends we were sisters -- sisters that faced the world together that shared some of the hardest times of our lives with. We were sisters that shared memories of childhood into our beginning of adulthood, but somewhere along the way we drifted apart.

I have changed. I am not the same person you knew, and sometimes it scares me that I have changed so much. College gave me a voice, but I never envisioned me gaining a voice would mean I would lose my ability to communicate with you. I have grown into an individual that views the world differently. We use to say: “You’re my person," our favorite line from Grey’s Anatomy. I lost that person when I got to college.

I have amazing friends at college, and I occasionally think about what life would be like if we went to college together. I know you didn’t want to go off to college and I completely support you in that decision, but this is where I found myself. This is where I learned about the individual I wanted to be and found those who had the same interests as me. I know you have found people that fill that need in your life, but never forget I am here when you need me.

I worry about you more than you will ever know, and it consumes me sometimes. The idea of how different our lives are and how one choice did all of that, but I have wondered if sometime me leaving for college had nothing to do with us drifting apart. Life without you in it is one of the hardest things I have ever had to learn, and I wonder if you ever miss me or feel the same about our friendship. I wish I would try to reach out more and regain some line of communication, but the idea that one day you won’t answer or even the thought that you wouldn’t want that is hard for me to accept.

Lastly, I am always here for you, no matter the time of day or the hours away from each other we are. I will always be your friend and sister. We have been through far too much for for me to through that away. The thought of the last day we will ever talk is not a day I am looking forward too. I have seen glimpses of that day in the past three years.

I know it seems like we are in different chapters of our lives, and maybe we are, but that should not hinder our friendship.

Your Friend and Forever Sister,

Kimberly Blevins