Cheers To You, My Best Friend

Where do I begin? I could start with how we first met. How back then, I was still so shy and anxious about meeting new people, and that you were one of the few who welcomed me with open arms and a warm smile. I could start with how you were the teammate I relied on the most and how I always trusted you to catch me when I would fall. I could start by listing our inside jokes or how we can communicate just by looking at each other and bursting into laughter. All of that adds up to how you are the friend I want to grow old with.

There are the friends that you sometimes lose touch with. And we did for a few years. Life happened. Growing up happened. But the minute we ran into each other again, it was us, as if we were 18 years old again. Time didn’t stand a chance against us. We laughed the same, we joked the same, and we still shared that familiarity of all the years before us. When we reconnected, we went from growing apart for a few years to growing together.

Growing up came with changes. We learned about ourselves, and we were slowly able to peel back the layers and share what we normally hid from others with each other. When I opened up about my mental illness, you didn’t treat me how everyone else did, like I was fragile, breakable, and weak. You never walked on eggshells around me. Instead, you told me that it was okay, and you told me that I could lean on you for support. You understood the inner workings of my turbulent mind, and you would sit through each storm with me. You let me lose the self-control I force myself to keep in order to hide myself from others. You embrace the emotions that crash out of me when I let myself go. I don’t know how I could ever repay you for loving me for who I am.

I love that we laugh so much together. That at the end of every day of being with you, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much, and I fall asleep happy. But I also love that aside from the elation and the bliss, we are there for each other in the darker, more serious moments. I love being the person you ask for advice and the friend who hugs you back when a friend is all you need. I love that we care so much about each other, that we never forget to tell each other to text when we get home. I love that you push me to speak up and to not hide how I’m feeling or when I’m angry at you because you want to keep our friendship strong. We have a friendship where we never wear masks. I’m so glad that we are genuine. Most of all, I’m so thankful that we have each other to always rely on through the good, the bad, and the difficult.

Have you ever realized that your relationship with your closest friends reflects those traditional wedding vows? For better and for worse. For richer and for poorer. In sickness and in health. Perhaps not till death do we part, because I already know we’d find each other again. Maybe this is why we want our best friends standing next to us on these special days. Because friendship is kind of like a vow to always be there for each other no matter what. You’re that friend for me, my best friend. Because of you, I laugh more than I used to cry. Cheers to you, my best friend.