No, you weren't the girl that I met on the first day of kindergarten. You weren't the person that I planned elaborate birthday parties with, even though our birthdays were months apart, just so that we could celebrate together. And you weren't the girl that I have embarrassing pictures with in silly Halloween costumes or dressed up for dance parties during our play dates. I didn't stand by your side and dread the first day of middle school with you nor did I sleep over at your house the day before freshman year, so that we could officially start high school together.

You didn't even come into my life until my freshman year was coming to a close and the story of how we met is actually somewhat long and complicated and not even worth reciting most of the time, because there's the funny version and the dramatic version and the long version and the boring version. How we met doesn't even matter, because after five years of friendship, we're still going strong.

As a matter of fact, you're the only (girl) friend that I've had who stuck by my side and never left. We've definitely had our fights and some of them were so bad that I locked myself in my room and fell asleep crying. But, we worked through every problem and we've gotten to the point where we can laugh about it all now.

Through it all, you've been my best friend and we got through it all together. Whether it was cheerleading, chorus, stupid drama, an awful class or a ridiculous teacher, we've gotten through every single struggle that life could have possibly thrown our way. And, even when we allowed the stress to interfere with out usually flawless friendship, we were made stronger by it all.

But now, we aren't standing side by the side and conquering the world together. In fact, we're at two very different points in our lives and we're drifting in two different directions. Sure, we're both doing the whole college thing and we're both excelling (flawlessly) at it as well as learning how to be adults. We're both in happy relationships with guys who are (almost) as amazing as we are.

But, we're different. I've been away at school for a year now and I'm about to start my second year away. I had to learn how to adapt. And you went through a senior year that should have had a movie written about it, which taught you how to be strong. Not having me there to defend you and as a physical shoulder to cry on only made you stronger, because you learned how to fend for yourself.

You've got a new group of friends and so do I. We're always going to have a bond that is impossible to replace and when people ask me who my best friend is, I will always say your name first. We still talk twenty-four seven and you're the first person I tell anything to. I will always love you, but our friendship had changed.

Our friendship has changed a lot because you're not longer just my best friend. You're my sister, and I wouldn't have it any other way.