The beginning of our friendship was probably nothing more than ordinary. I met you back in our hometown in grade school and my first impression of you was considerably mundane. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, I can't even remember the exact encounter. At that time, little did I know you would become my forever friend; the one I know will be standing next to me at the alter on my wedding day.

To be honest, it wasn't a surprise that we became friends. We both grew up and attended the same functions in a ten mile radius of one another. There were only a couple hundred students in our school, so we were bound to have known of each other or crossed paths during our time there.

But after having a couple conversations with you, I realized our relationship was different than others. It was clearly a distinguishable connection. Your personality was down to earth and you were easy to talk to. The more we hung out, the more I realized how much I enjoyed spending time with you. You made me laugh and more importantly, you made the misery of fourth period tolerable. I actually began looking forward to going to class so that we could catch up and chat about our insignificant teenage problems and of course, boys. You were my go to person, my BFFL (best friend for life) as the old captions on my MySpace once read... I know, so embarrassing right?

Anyway, the day you came to school with the news that you were transferring schools because you were moving a couple towns away, I knew something was off. As much as I wish I don't, I can't help remember that moment as clear as day. I was devastated and couldn't imagine going through the rest of middle school and junior high without you. And because we were so dramatic, we schemed like no other to try and not be separated. But who were we kidding? We were only twelve and had no say over anything.

I made peace with you leaving and just like any pair of friends, we made promises to stay as close as we always have been. But understandably, I had my doubts. I mean we weren't even old enough to drive and visit each other at this point. I figured that we would put in the effort and somewhere down the road, our friendship would come to an end. (I know, I'm sorry! But you have to admit, the odds were not in our favor.)

To my surprise, we made it work. We had just gotten our first cell phones (flip phones, of course), so we spent the majority of time texting and calling each other with updates of our lives. We had our moms carpool and take us ice skating or shopping and to the movies. Eventually we went from being thirteen year old adolescents to seventeen year old young adults. At this point, we had both been in a serious relationship and we both went through our individual heartbreaks. There's no doubt that year was one of the most difficult ones yet, but the convenience of having our licenses made it that much easier to be there for each other. You had my back and I had your shoulder to lean on.

Three more years have gone by and the distance between us has increased tremendously. When we decided on going to college hundreds of miles away from one another, I knew I had nothing to worry about. Sure, I've gotten and you've received your fair share of texts in the middle of the night with a crisis to solve, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm so proud to call you my best friend and I'm grateful to have had the privilege to watch you follow your dreams and become the successful woman you are today.

As we enter our twenties, I can add yet another year to our friendship. It's been eight years and counting and when I picture the next eight years, I picture sharing many more memories with you. I hope you'll continue eating the most unhealthy of foods (with no regrets) and getting probably way too much sun at the beach with me. And I hope when the time comes, you won't have to wipe away my tears and bash on the stupid boy who broke my heart. Instead I hope you will be celebrating with tears of joy as my bridesmaid on my wedding day.