I write this because I know I probably won't be able to say all of this to you in person, whether it be because I'll cry too much, or because I won't have the time to say all that I want to.

Thank you for sticking with me through it all. Some of you for 13 years, and others, maybe only one. Either way, thanks for being there for me, and for being a friend.

Thank you for your support and encouraging words over the years. I wouldn't be the person I am today without you pushing me and supporting me in all that I do. This includes coming to my field hockey games. Thank you for coming out on senior night, on the important, rivalry games, and on any other random games. Having friends on the sideline is actually a great feeling that is hard to describe.

Thank you for opening your home, and welcoming me in whenever. Thank you for the sleepovers, the parties, the food, and the swimming!

Thank you for spotting me when we go out and I have no cash. Also, thank you for sharing your food when I don't have money to buy my own food.

Thank you for scratching/massaging my back and playing with my hair, and not expecting anything in return. I can't tell you how much this meant to me.

Thank you for doing homework and projects with me, and eating a whole bag of Smartfood while we work.

Thank you for being smart so that I had someone to push and challenge me in school. Also, thank you for struggling with me when we were both completely confused.

Thank you for doing anything with me that you didn't want to do, and didn't tell me because you were too good of a friend. Thank you for walking back to my house in middle school even though I lived on the other side of town, and I was the only one who wanted to walk. Thank you for hiking a mountain with my family and me, even though you were sick. Thank you for eating somewhere that I really wanted to eat at. Thank you for simply putting up with me.

Thanks for driving me around and never asking for gas money. Thanks for driving me "your way" so I know new ways to get to the same place. Thanks for showing me new places and new restaurants.

Thank you for buying me a lot of random stuff, and for not making me pay you back for any of it.

Thanks for being a bus buddy in elementary school. My day would start and end on a great note because I had such a good bus-riding friend.

Thank you for being someone to laugh with, to cry with, to sing with, to sleep with, to play with, to adventure with.

Thanks for not commenting on how my house always smells weird, like a mix of bacon and fire (I don't know why it does).

Thank you for being my friend during Hampden Meadows and middle school, when I looked like a chubby, little boy.

Thank you for being my friend in high school when I still, occasionally, looked like a boy, (no shame though, it's hard to always dress cute).

Thanks for letting me try to wear your clothes, even though I'm quite a few sizes larger. Thanks for telling me I looked great (when I definitely did not), in those same clothes.

Thanks for getting dressed for dances and parties with me and helping me find something to wear. Thanks for trying to teach me how to do my own make-up, I'll hopefully get good at it one day.

Thank you for dealing with my stubbornness, my craziness, and my occasional obsessive, compulsive behavior.

Thank you for being a weirdo with me, and for just hanging out with me.

In case I don't get to say this to you before we leave, this is why I am so lucky to have a friend like you. Goodbye for now, and good luck next year. Thanks for everything you've done.