An Open Letter To My Best Friend Who Graduated Before Me

You made it.

Wow, I never thought I would write those words with the word “you” and not the word “we”. You are graduating high school and I still have one year left.

The past 3 years have been amazing; they said high school is the best years of your life, but I think there are so many more to come.

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve gone from extremely happy that you’re graduating and going to off to college to crying in the car on my way home because a song that reminded me of you came on the radio.

I am going to miss your daily high fives in the hallway and hearing your laugh from three doors down. I’m going to miss the trips to Taco Bell and late-night ice cream runs. I’m going to miss driving around with the windows down, singing our hearts out to Twenty One Pilots songs. But most of all I’m going to miss seeing the way you impact each and every person in the high school.

But enough about what I’m going to miss — I want to thank you.

Thank you for being my best supporter.

Thank you for all the basketball and football games we carpooled to.

Thank you for all the memes you tagged me in and all the silly videos you showed me.

Thank you for the Starbucks stops and dozens of frappuccinos.

Thank you for always telling me the truth. Without you calling me out on the stupid things I do, I don’t know where I would be today.

Most importantly thank you for being yourself.

What I mean is thank you for never being afraid to show people who you truly are. For being that one to go sit by the kid in the corner who looks lonely, or standing up for your friends when someone is talking bad about them. Thank you for showing love to every single person around you, regardless of the way that they treated you. Thank you for the leadership you have shown and will continue to show as you head off to college. Thank you.

Next year is going to be amazing, but I would be lying if I said it isn’t going to be difficult. It’s going to hard not seeing you every day or hearing your voice. It’s going to be hard not hanging out on the weekends or going to drama rehearsal without you. But I am excited for the things that are yet to come.

I am so excited for the adventures you have coming your way. I am excited that you are going to meet new people and be able to make memories with them. I am excited that you get amazing food at college and a beautiful campus. I am excited that you will have the opportunity to impact other people just as much as you have impacted me.

Here’s to your freshmen year of college and my senior year of high school.

After all, 14 hours, 10 minutes, and 878 miles away isn’t that far, right?