An Open Letter to My Hometown Best Friends,

Growing up, some girls only know how to have one best friend. Those girls either keep one best friend their whole life or that best friend changes throughout the years. It never fails that they only know how to have one best friend at a time. I am lucky enough to have two best friends at one once. Yes, I know we didn’t grow up our whole lives being best friends, but I know that I am lucky. Let me say this though, when I found you guys I knew it was a friendship that would change and shape my life.

One of the hardest things I ever had to do was say goodbye to our hometown. It wasn’t hard leaving because of the town itself, but it was hard to leave because I was leaving you guys. We grew up in a town where secrets did not exist, and I could get from my house to Chick-Fil-A, on the other side of town, in under ten minutes. Best friends in our town were either made by riding the bus together when we were younger, growing up in organizations together, or even simple, silly things like sitting on stage at the high school Beauty and Beau pageant moments before the curtain was pulled because everyone was ready for the pageant to be over.

The town we grew up in was a messed up town to say the least, but it was our hometown and that made everything worth it. I am glad to call our hometown home because you guys are there. It may hold some of the worst memories of my life, but because I had you guys, it also holds some of the best memories. We were always there for each other. If one of us ran away from home because we didn’t think all of our decisions through, or if we needed to vent about an ex-boyfriend who was always causing drama in our life even when we didn’t ask for it, you all were there. We stood by each other’s side to take up for each other on social media when other girls tried to gang up on one of us because some girls had nothing better to do with their time while they were in high school. No matter what it was, I could always count to see you guys by my side fighting with me and for me.

I write this to say thank you. Thank you for always being real with me and letting me be “wild” when I needed to be. Thank you for never judging my decisions even when you guys didn’t agree with them. Thank you for the countless roundtrips we went one and all the inside jokes that were formed. Thank you for all of the jam sessions we had in good moods and in bad. Thank you for our late night car rides, and for always being late for curfew just so we could spend more time together. I couldn’t have asked for better best friends to grow up with. I applaud both of you guys for never beating me upside the head with a tennis rack even if there were times when I needed it.

Being in college away from you guys is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. Even though we aren’t as close as we were when we were all in high school, I know that it’s OK. One thing that I have learned over the years is that some friendships aren’t meant to last forever. Some friendships are only meant to last a couple of seasons. No matter what the state of our friendship, though, I want both of you to know that I lay in bed every night and thank God for giving me both of you. I pray the best for your lives, and I hope both of you become the strong leading women I have known each of you to be from the very beginning of our friendship.

Sincerely,

Your Hometown Best Friend