I don't remember the exact day I met her, but I know we met in the third grade. We would play imaginary games, like role-playing movies I was obsessed with on the school yard. I do remember the day she decided she was done with that, though, which was pretty funny. We were sitting down by the pool, doing whatever we did while we played these games, and she just got up and said, "I'm done, I don't want to do this anymore", and walked away. I'm pretty sure that's also when I stopped playing such games as well, not surprisingly. I believe it was partly seeing my friend stop doing it but also my mind was growing and I was just getting "too old" to play these games.

We were always close. She was the one that I'd hang out with every weekend. We never really spent weekends apart; we only did if we had something going on. We grew up together and it was beautiful. I loved being able to go to her house in Topanga; we'd go on hikes every time we were together. There was this really cool spot with holes in the rocks, and she told me Native Americans used them to grind up ingredients for food and things like that. There is a lot of history up there in those canyons. One time, we made a tent out of sticks and leaves, put some blankets and sleeping bags in the middle and slept under the stars. We even saw a UFO in her front yard; it was a big triangle ship with red lights blinking backwards at a medium pace, slowly hovering over the mountain. I can't remember if it zoomed off or not, but when we ran inside to get her brother to show him, he just scoffed and didn't believe us since it disappeared. But we believed it. At least I still do.

I believed we were soulmates, and I still believe she is. We were so close! I've never had someone that close to me as I did with her. But when you get close to someone, they eventually see the bad parts of you. She never ran from seeing those bad things that came out of me when I was in middle school. She always stuck around to be a shoulder to cry on, always consoled me the best way that she could. I can never thank her enough for staying by my side during my depression.

She's my family. My family loves her and her family loved me. We'd get in arguments, like sisters do, and stop talking for some time, but we always reconnected. No matter how much time passed during the times we stopped talking, when we gravitated back to each other it was like nothing had happened. This happened all throughout our relationship. We're actually going through it once again, but I believe that we'll gravitate to each other again. We always do.

As we travel on different paths away from each other, we're both learning new things about life. It's a hard time for us to be in; when people hit their 20's, it's very hard. New things to do, new responsibilities...being an adult isn't easy. When I was younger, all I wanted to be was an adult. Now that I look back on my childhood, I do miss it. Don't get me wrong, I love where I am, but childhood is a precious thing that flies by so fast that you don't even realize it. Even though the time went by so fast, I have so many memories with her, such beautiful memories that I could never forget. When you grow up with someone and you're so close to them, you will never forget them.

So, now we're in our early 20's and learning all the new things as we should. Despite being apart, I know that we're both on good paths. We're doing what we're meant to do in this life. We're on the paths we should be on, and eventually we'll meet again and it'll be like nothing had ever changed, just like before. Only this time, we'll have new wisdom to share with each other and new experiences to share.

I love you, my dear best friend. You were and always will be my best friend and soulmate. Never forget that.