(Megan and her fiance, Alex, on a trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains with Brent and I several years ago)
If I can say one thing to younger girls out there - it would be this: You will meet all kinds of friends as you grow up. Some of them will become as familiar to you as your own family. Others will bloom and fade. Many will only stay for a little while, provide you with some sort of lesson, and move on.
If you’re lucky, when it all shakes out, you’ll find yourself with a friend like Megan. We’ve gone to the same school since first grade. We wore the same unfortunate haircuts in our school picture, stayed up entirely too late at the same sleepovers in elementary school, had crushes on the same boys in middle school, and learned a lot of the same lessons about love and life in highschool.
But even after we left the halls of our small town highschool, our lives continued to pull us near one another. Our sophomore year of college, we shared our first apartment. It was there that we threw our first keg party. and also wher we dramatically broke up with our boyfriends and then sat on the floor in each other’s rooms retelling the story.
Years passed and the older I got, the more I came to realize what a jewel she was in my life. I’d known her since I was 6 years old. Our lives held so many similarities and though the scenery and people changed many times over, Megan was really the only friend I’d ever had who had gone through ALL of those life experiences with me. Elementary. middle. high school. college. first apartments. serious relationships. first jobs. adulthood.
I treasure her. I treasure the quiet, comfortableness that comes with being near her. Her unmistakable laugh. Her kind, generous spirit. She is goodness in my life, plain and simple.
I feel that when you are grateful for someone’s presence in your life - you should tell them. I am trying to do that more often these days. All these years, having Megan in my life has been a constant gift. So here it is. My love letter to an old friend.
I love you,
M
