To my long-distance best friend,

From the moment we met during my sophomore year of high school, I knew we were going to be important to each other. We immediately fell into an easy routine of joking around on the soccer bus, having sleepovers, and walking each other to class.

Back then, I remember thinking that times like these would go on forever; we would always live close enough to each other to randomly make dinner plans, and we'd get to hang out every few days. However, when it came time for you to go off to college 10 hours away, I quickly realized that things were going to change.

Now, it was going to take effort for us to make plans, we were going to have to schedule our hangouts around the days you were home on break, and Facetime was going to be our most frequent form of communication. Still, we've been able to maintain our friendship for the last three and a half years and have successfully managed to keep our promise that, no matter the distance, we'll always stay best friends.

So, thank you.

Thank you for being the person I can turn to when nothing is going right, when I've had a bad week. Thank you for listening to me cry on Facetime about how I'm stressed about work or school or life in general and continuing to support me, no matter what. Thank you for being my biggest fan and always reassuring me that I'm going to be a successful writer one day. I can't tell you how much the fact that you believe in my dreams means to me.

Thank you for making it a priority to see me when you are home. I know how busy you are during those times, and it means a lot that you always do your best to make time for us to at least grab lunch. Thanks for being the type of friend who I can go months without seeing, but when I finally do, it seems like nothing has changed.

Thank you for having the best sense of humor and making my day whenever we get the chance to have one of our long, ridiculous conversations about life. I look forward to the nights we sit on the phone for hours swapping stories and catching up on each other's lives.

Thank you for always being up for endless chicken tenders at Applebee's followed by lava cake at Chili's. There is no one else I would shamelessly visit two restaurants in the span of an hour and a half with.

More than anything, thank you for being my best friend in the world and for all the amazing memories we've made together. I don't know what I'd do without you, and I'm beyond thankful that our friendship has remained as strong as ever, despite the distance. I can't wait to make tons more memories together as we continue to grow up.