The Gift of Friendship

I do not remember the day we met.  I do not know if it was sunny or rainy, if she smiled or frowned.

I do not remember all that came after.  All the giggles, the tears, the shared moments.

I do not remember all the fights, the disagreements, the yelling.

I do not remember all the jokes, the laughs, the secrets.

I do not remember all the hugs, the kisses, the cuddles.

I do not remember every Barbie escapade, make-believe story, or backyard adventure.

But I know that they happened.  I know that we lived them.

She has been a part of my life for so long, I can not see a future without her in it.  While other friends have come and gone, she has never left.  Sometimes in the front, leading me, and sometimes behind, supporting me.  But she is always here, with me.

I do not know when it happened, but somewhere in my lazy childhood days she became my best friend.  And then in my uncertainty of teenage youth she became my idol.  Put on a pedestal by my very own hands.  But always still my best friend.  And as young adulthood came knocking, and life became messy and scary and real, I brought her back down from perfection, back where she belongs, in my arms.

We have spent years together, years car rides, airplane rides, and oceans apart.  And even though sometimes it doesn't seem like she's there, even though sometimes I wonder if we're drifting apart, she is here, and we are not.  She is a phone call, an email, a text away.  She is a smile, a photo, a memory away.

And no matter if it has been twenty minutes since our last interaction or twenty days, we can more or less pick up from where we left off.

I know that I am lucky, I am blessed to have this friendship.  And I hope that my girls can find such a wonderful gift.

They are already halfway there.

After all, she is, and will forever be, My Sister.

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