Through out life, you encounter many different types of people and through those encounters you may pick up different types of friends along the way. Of course there are the people we meet and never see again, like the friends you meet at the beach when you're little, but you both eventually have to go. Or the person you had a thrilling conversation with at the bar, but forgot to get their number in rush of your uber arriving.

Then there are the people who we stay friends with to benefit ourselves eventually, otherwise known as the manager you get drinks with, or the friends you meet through working on school projects. In the midst of passer by's and the people who fill your heart with joy, are your co workers and classmates, you see them almost everyday, but the furthest you'll get is a conversation about how your weekend was.

There are the friends who you are attached at the hip to for a while and then eventually fade from each others lives. You'll learn a lot from each other, and you'll temporarily put joy into each others days, but your lives will go in separate paths.

The most important friends are the ones that no matter where you go in life, they are always a phone call away. The friends that you can go years with out seeing, but when you are together it's as if no time has passed. They're the friends your children will one day refer to as aunt or uncle. This is a message to you, you are my saving grace, my joy, my family.

I'd like to start by adding a personal note, but let me explain why. This is the start. This is where you learn how powerful friendships can be. As a child, my mom had a best friend and my dad was best friends with a pair of twins. As a young kid, I understood that the twins were his friends but they were more than friends. There were pictures on the halls lining the staircase, with them holding me as a new born baby. They were there for any family party and every time they were around, stories were shared and my dad smiled with pure friendship behind it.

My moms best friend on the other hand, I did not learn she was not my actual blood relative until I was about 10. Her daughter was at my house everyday after school, to me she was my cousin. My mom's best friend was always around too, and my mom glowed with joy in the presence of her bestie. Growing up and watching these friendships, I learned that with time you may see those friends less, but every time they came around it was like they had been around every day. I learned that friends did not always need to be in the picture for you to know that you are there for them.

Slowly as I grew older, I stumbled upon friends like this myself. Whom among the midst of middle school and high school drama, thoughtless mistakes, awkward puberty stages, and hard break ups have always been a phone call away. No matter how distanced we became as classes differed and life nudged itself in the way these friendships, they still instilled this happiness in my heart that is irreplaceable. When I became aware of how important these types of friendships were to my mental health and happiness, I got to thinking. Friends like this are so essential to our lives, but it often goes unnoticed because how chaotic life can get. We rarely take the time to thank them. This is my thank you to them.

No matter how busy life gets, you always answer the phone. You know exactly the right thing to say to cheer me up on a bad day. And on your bad days, when I am able to help you I feel a tinge of happiness as I know I was able to help make you feel better. We can sit in silence for hours and be perfectly content with each others company. Thank you for experiencing life with me, even when we are apart, we fill each other in and live all the best moments together. You make me laugh like no other person can and with out you my life would be incomplete. We have grown together, and made each other into better people. We have experienced the good and the bad together and you will always have a piece of my heart. There is no greater love than the bond between two people in a friendship like so. To all the best friends, you make the world go 'round.

With so many people in the world, I was lucky enough to have stumbled across your path. Earning the gift of your friendship, you have brought utter happiness into my life. My best friend once gave me a sign that read "Good friends are like stars, you can't always see them, but they are always there" and it rings through my mind often. As a good friend does not need to be there, with you every day, you do not need to see them to know that they love you. Friends like this are important, you are important, and as life passes us by, I take this time to give you my appreciation and thanks, for you are incredibly special.