Dear lifelong friend,

First, I just want to say congratulations for putting up with me for this long. I didn't know if you would be able to make it through my mean phase in middle school. Next, I just want to say that our friendship has been pretty surprising over the years. It began when our parents forced us together as small children, simply because they were friends themselves. Yet, we made it work long-term.

Thank you for being the one person who I can count on to listen to all of my problems and give me the least amount of judgement. You know my heart, and you know what all I have been through because you have been there for me ever since I can remember. Sure, I have other friends, and they're amazing, but you will always have something that they do not; you have time.

You remember when my biggest problem was that I hadn't learned how to tie my shoes, so you would tie them for me. You remember when I got my first boyfriend, and we thought it was super cool to have "double dates" watching TV in your living room.

We have been on more vacations than I can even remember. Whether we have fought on them, avoided random people we met at the pool, or searched for medical supplies after my brisk jog on the hotel's treadmill didn't go as planned, I always cherished our time together.

I'm not saying that our friendship has been perfect. Honestly, I don't understand the friends that say that they never fight. I think that is a load of garbage. If you don't fight with your best friend every once in a while, the two of you aren't family. You're just friends, and that's not what we are. We are sisters.

We're close enough to know when the other is lying, sit in comfortable silence on the phone together while we individually do other things, and call each other out if one of us is being stupid. I need someone who will always give me the truth, and you definitely do that.

I think there is something special about friendships that have been going on for a lifetime. It means that although new people arise over time, you still have something that they don't. They can never replace you, the memories, or the plethora of personal crises that we have overcome together. Nobody can ever be you, and nobody can start at the beginning with me like you did. There are some people that God gives you early on in life to help you navigate from adolescence through adulthood, and that is what I have with you.

I have watched you grow. I have watched you turn into a good person, a good wife, and an even better friend. I know that no matter where life takes us, you will always be here for me. I don't have to see you daily or talk to you every week to know that we will always be friends. Time has already proven that. The years of never falling off of each others radar verifies it.

If I need you, you're there. If you need me, I've got you. The best thing about having a friend who has been through everything with you is simple; you know that they won't quit on you. They are forever.

It's like marriage, minus the romance.