Lifestyle

The Unique Pain Of Having Your Best Friend Move Away For College

by RikkiLynn Shields

At this age, we constantly ask ourselves who we see in our lives 30 years from now.

Who will be there to hold our hair back on our 21st birthdays?

Who will be there at our weddings, making the speech of a lifetime?

Who will be there to witness the baptism of our child, and who will be there to watch him or her grow?

Who will be there through hardships and troubles?

Most of all, who will be there to make the good times even better?

You want someone you can drink wine with on Friday nights when your husband works.

You want someone you can look back with at 80 years old and pat yourselves on the back for living a damn good life.

I think I’ve found that person.

Alhough I’m saying goodbye to her today, nothing will ever change.

Scratch that.

This isn’t goodbye; this is just a "see you later."

I never thought this day would come. I never thought a goodbye would ever be so hard.

Today, sitting on the couch of my best friend's house has never felt so real.

I think right now is where I can say high school has officially ended.

I am officially starting a new chapter in my life.

These past few years have been the best of my life, and all my thanks can go to my best friend.

Everyone says we each have one soulmate out there, and whether your soulmate is romantic or not, I have found mine in my best friend.

It’s not in the way you’d think.

I’m love with everything about the way she is now, the way she will be, the way she’s made me and the way we will each become.

Everyone waits for that one best friend, the one who can finish your sentence before you even start it.

This is someone who knows everything about you and still comes around at the end of the day.

This is the one person you can tell your deepest, darkest secrets to, and you know he or she won’t tell a soul.

I pray all people find “their person.”

I believe mine is you.

Best friend, we’ve had a heck of a good time together.

I'll never forget sneaking in and out of houses and “sleeping over” at each other's, night after night.

I'll always remember meeting random guys, hanging out with familiar ones, IKEA trips, beach days and lazy wine-drinking nights.

I could go on for years talking about the things we’ve done and seen together.

Although about a third of our memories might be a blur, I wouldn’t have wanted to make them with anyone else.

I’ve watched you grow and become so strong.

I commend you for that.

You are such a beautiful individual inside and out, and I am blessed every single day to call you my sister.

I think it’s going be tough for me to run to your house now.

Three miles, I could handle.

Even though I’m running Division I in college, 2,180 miles is a lot.

I don’t think I can do that yet.

Even though I won’t see you every day, even though we won’t always talk and even though you’ll grow on your own in Utah, I will always love you unconditionally.

You were there for me during the worst times in my life, and I know we both know damn well that it was vice versa.

I’ve never opened up to anyone the way I opened up to you, and even though you know how sh*tty of a person I really am, you still love me.

Best friend, you complete me. You’re my partner in crime.

You're the life of the party. You're the sun to my moon.

You’re every single thing important to me.

I know sometimes, I might not run. I’ll probably miss one of your text messages.

I know I might leave my clothes all over my room.

I might fall asleep mid-sentence while on the phone with you.

I know I’ll still forget what you said right after you said it, but I’ll always ask again.

I might forget to call, and I might forget to tell you how important you are to me as often as you’d like to hear it.

But, I’ll never forget how much you love cheese fries and how much you hate feet and birds.

I’ll never forget every guy you’ve ever talked to or the way Nick fit into your life even more perfectly than expected.

I’ll never forget when you hated smoking weed or the way your cigarette smoke would always blow in my face, no matter which way we stood.

I’ll always remember how you hated sleeping with a pillow, unless it was over your head.

I’ll always remember the way you put your feet up on my dashboard in my car and the way you’d smile when you saw your dog.

I'll never forget the way you get furious when someone pushes your buttons.

I’ll always remember your smile and the infinite amounts of laughter we’ve had together.

If I know one thing in my life, it’s you.

I will always love you.

I will love you even if I never see you again, or if I see you every Christmas.

I will always love the sh*t out of you.

I already am sure I will never meet anyone who supported me and inspired me like you or somebody with so much passion.

I learned it takes a lot to love someone.

It’s almost a full-time job.

It takes energy, kindness, patience and even blindness.

There’s a moment in the beginning of each lifetime friendship where you need to take a jump for the other person, and you know if you have to think about it, you won’t do it.

I jumped for you, best friend, and I won’t ever jump for anyone else ever again.

It’s so weird thinking you’re on your way to the airport right now, and you're not right down the street.

It’s weird to think we won’t be drinking wine on weekend nights anymore, and we won’t be wandering around anymore during the week.

It’s hard for me to accept the fact you actually left.

Maybe it's for a year, or maybe it's for five, but things are going to take some getting used to.

Regardless of where both of us are, know that I love you.

I will never stop loving you.

Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.

I wouldn’t trade you for the world.

I wish you the best of luck with everything, sis.

I’ll be seeing you.