Why You'll Always Have A Soft Spot For Your Very First Best Friends

Hey guys, it’s me.

I just wanted to say hi and ask you how you’ve been.

Through your social media posts and our brief conversations, I see you’re doing as well as you could be.

But I needed to ask for myself.

More so, I’m writing to say the things we don’t say enough out loud.

I want to say I’m happy we’ve been able to keep up with each other after all these years, and I’m proud to call you guys my best friends.

The thing is, the more people I come across, the more I realize we shouldn't be taken lightly.

I want you to know I wouldn’t be who I am without you guys.

Whether it was in kindergarten, throwing pencils at each other or in high school English class on the first day of freshman year, we all met at really awkward phases in our lives.

Remember the awful braces, palatal expanders and whatever other metal they shoved in our mouths so we could achieve perfect smiles? It's funny how we still have our gaps and overbites.

Remember the baby hairs we could never fully get hair-sprayed down, or the Juicy tracksuits we always asked for on holidays and birthdays?

Thankfully, leggings took over and we discovered the power of the straightener.

In high school, we faced so many firsts together: our first real boyfriends (or girlfriends); the first time we drank, smoke, partied and lied to our parents.

No matter how hard we tried to conceal the jealousy when one of us made a new friend, it was pretty obvious.

Remember when we first started waxing, doing our nails and coloring our hair weird colors? We had tiger stripes at one point.

Remember how old we thought we were? Now, I can’t believe how young we still are.

I remember when that boy took everything from me, and how you held me when I cried in regret, wondering how I didn't see it coming.

I remember when I did the same for you. What’s great is, we never even whispered those four evil words: "I told you so."

It’s crazy to think those years passed right before our eyes.

Here we are now, all living completely different lives.

I know sometimes it seems like things aren’t the same, and you're right. They aren’t.

But that’s the beauty of the friendship we have.

We understand each other's references to childhood and those dramatic teen years like no one else. Those were the years that shaped the almost-adults we’re becoming now.

I never thought you guys wouldn’t be five minutes away when we were 15-year-olds, but I realize now it was inevitable.

You knew how trapped I felt in my head all the time, and I knew how content you were with the choices you'd made.

You were shy and I wasn’t. You were so level-headed and once again, I wasn’t.

But then, there were those days where you took my traits on as your own. I can still tell when a part of you comes out in me.

Somehow, we balance each other out.

It's funny how we stuck together at a time when our lives were revolving doors, and how much we still are the same people we were so many years ago.

The idea that we’ve been growing up and will never get that blissful time back is scary.

I know we all have different friends. I know we might not get to see each other enough, and I know we live in different states.

I am even more aware that this takes a toll on us sometimes.

But I want you all to know you’re my first friends. You're the ones I compare everyone else to.

They say if you have one good friend in life, you’re luckier than most. I’m counting my blessings because I’ve got a handful.

You might not be the friends I talk to the most, or the ones who know my every minute of every day.

But you are the ones I think about when I realize how happy I am to have an extended family no matter where I go.

Thank you for being my soulmates and never telling my secrets.

I promise yours are safe with me, too.

Thank you for laying on the couch with me during the winter storms, baking everything we see on Pinterest and watching reruns with my mom.

Thanks for walking with me to get ice cream and floating in the pool with me on the hot summer days we tried to get as tan as possible.

Thank you for being the first best friends I could ever hope to have.

I’m sorry we don’t say it enough. I’m sorry we sometimes forget how lucky we are.

I hope you’re doing well, and I send you my best. I can’t wait for the next time we get to see each other and catch up over a bottle of wine or champagne brunch.

I hope that when you get to where you’re going, you'll remember where you came from.

Know that you’ll always have me.

XOXO, Your first best friend