Lately, a lot of my friends have been getting engaged, talking about marriage, or just downright trying for a child to start a family. My most recent friend who got engaged has been talking about her wedding and what could possibly happen for her bachelorette. Obviously, that makes me think about my love life and who will be there for my wedding.
Don’t worry though, this will happen no time soon. I have yet to even acquire a man in my life I actually enjoy enough to let stick around, but either way, it is fun to dream about a bachelorette.
So I first started by trying to count out who would all be there…I’m not sure why I thought I had ten friends, but I don’t. I barely have five that I would invite. And while I love the five girls I plan on having there, I just kept wondering who was going to be my best friend in bed with me every night during the trip…talking about all the details throughout the day or just life in general as we stare at the ceiling. The one girl who was supposed to stand by my side while I got married, the only person who could ever speak for me. There was only one person I could think of…my only true best friend I ever had.
I met her my sophomore year of college, in my second semester of calculus. I was nineteen at the time, and she was just one year younger. She approached me while I was sitting outside waiting to walk into class. I had no idea why she was approaching, and quite frankly, I didn’t want her to. We spoke for a few minutes before class and exchanged Snapchats and phone numbers, just like everyone does in college.
Our friendship was slow-moving—we barely spoke for the first year of knowing each other, maybe hung out once or twice. But then the winter of that next year came around, and everything kind of changed. She was going through a friendship breakup and boy troubles, the same as I was, and then all of a sudden, she was my best friend.
I remember when she told me she approached me because she thought I was pretty and that I had so much potential in life. I always laughed it off, but she was right. She saw something in me way before I could realize it. She saw me and showed me the girl I could be. She believed in me and loved me more than anyone on this entire planet. I can’t tell you what that feels like, but I can tell you that I think about her every day. She built me. She made me strong, and all my resilience is owed to her. Every accomplishment I’ve had since I was nineteen was every bit hers as well.
I haven’t spoken to her in three years, yet she’s flooded throughout my entire life. I think about how proud she would be of every headstand I’ve done, the distances I’ve run, and the people I didn’t let run all over me. She is the only person I want standing by my side until the day I die, so I called her last night—randomly, after three years—because I just needed her.
I needed her to know that while time may have passed and I’m states away now, she will always and forever be my one true best friend. No matter how much time passes, no friendship has ever compared to ours. I don’t think I could ever express how thankful and grateful I am to have had—and to still have—her in my life, even if it took three years for us to come back to each other.
There’s a saying that goes, “You can get through anything in life as long as you have one good friend.” She’s that friend for me. She truly is the best friend a girl could ever have, and this time, it’s actually forever.