Dear old best friend,

I don’t want to call you an “ex” friend, because we didn’t “break up”, we just faded. Like photos and memories, our friendship started to disappear along with our childhood.

We may have not been best friends for all that long, but you meant the world to me. We used to spend almost all of our free time together, at your house or mine (both felt like home to each of us). The back to back sleepovers and road trips with your family brought our bond even tighter.

One of my favorite memories with you was, looking all over your house to find loose change so we could go get crazy bread from Little Ceaser’s. I mean we were digging in couch cushions, looking under carpets, checking coat pockets, and then it dawned on us...your big brother’s change jar in his room (we decided he wouldn’t miss the money if he didn’t know it was gone). And there we went, two 13-year-olds in jean shorts that were definitely too short, bikini tops still on under our t-shirts (after trying to tan on your trampoline in the summer heat, of course), strutting our stuff to Little Ceaser’s to get that greasy cheesy deliciousness paid in full for with a hunk of change (including an abundance of pennies).

You were my best friend in some of the most pivotal and tough years of my life (middle school isn’t easy for anyone). We went through awkward phases, family changes, and so much more together.

It was hard going through high school seeing you around and not feeling like we could talk, or to fight back that natural urge to just approach you and see how you’re doing. It’s a strange feeling to know so much about a person and feel like they are total stranger to you simultaneously. Still to this day, although many years have passed, sometimes I wish we weren’t strangers, or how different our lives may have turned out if we remained in one another’s.

Regardless of our state of friendship (or lack thereof), I wish you the best. I hope you are happy, healthy, and leading the life that you want to be living. Thank you for being part of my life, because in someway or another you changed it for the better.

Sincerely,

Your old friend