I have to post this now because you are starting to think this post is about how much i hate you....LOVE YOU LIZZY :]

I am unsure of a lot of things. I honestly can't tell you what I believe in politically, what my favorite color is, where I will be in ten years, why I love the movie the sixth sense so much or why I hate my curly hair. Most think I am indecisive because I am a people pleaser, but some things I really just don't have an opinion about. There is one exception to my indecisiveness. I am 100%, whole heartedly, undoubtedly for sure that Elizabeth Anne Freeman and I were destined to be best friends.

The story of how we became inseparable, BFF's never gets old. I was seven years old and my Mom just informed me that I was going to have to wake up really early to drop my Dad off at the airport. No way was I going to wake up early, so she told me that I had to find someone's house to sleep over at. My best friend across the street was out of town so I had to call someone else. I whipped out the second grade directory and went down the list alphabetically of homeroom 2-C. Freeman, Elizabeth...I'll call her. I dialed her home phone number, which is now a number I will remember till the day I die, and she answered. She agreed to let me stay the night, even though we didn't know anything about each other. My Mom dropped me off later that day and apologized to her Mom after finding out I basically invited myself over. That night was the start of an incredible friendship that has lasted over 12 years.

Lizzy and I grew up side by side since the second grade and most people referred to us as "attached at the hip". I probably spent 90% of my childhood at her house only coming home to get new clothes. Days were spent mostly the same way, during the school year I would sleep over at her house every night, we would be driven to school in the morning, attend the same classes, go back to Lizzy's house, watch trading spaces while eating pans of rice krispie treats, play soccer with the neighbors, eat dinner, do homework and go to bed. Life was easy, simple and good. No one understood that my life was Lizzy's life and Lizzy's life was my life until about the fourth grade. Come August, new teachers were told every year that the Columbia's and Freeman's were basically one family.

After the simplicity of grade school came high school, but nothing changed. We both made new friends and had different core friend groups, but that still doesn't matter. We mastered the art of growing separately without growing apart. Even if we haven't seen each other in months (like this past school year), if Lizzy ever needed me or I ever needed her, things would fall right back into our 3rd grade, attached at the hip, inseparable bond.

As I enter this new stage of my life, I am analyzing my friendships with those closest to me. With Lizzy, no analyzing is needed. What we have, we will always have. Friendships are always changing, but with her nothing has changed and will ever change...our friendship is constant. What hurts me the most about my nearing adventure to Peru is that my best friend won't be right by my side experiencing it with me. Every big and little moment we have been there for each other. She was there the day I invited myself over, when I had my first bloody nose, when I got my braces and every time we were car riders. She was there for every volleyball game, when I got my first cell phone, when I cried during I am Sam, and the day my parents got divorced. Lizzy never missed when my family moved houses, the day I learned to rollerblade, every time I cried while doing algebra and every babysitting job we had together. And this past year, she never missed a Skype call when I was crying, a phone call when I hated the world or when I posted a childhood memory on her facebook wall. She has been there for it all, good and bad. Venturing to Peru without her by my side is terrifying, not to mention the 9 months we won't be with each other. Taking the biggest risk of my life without her next to me is scarier than being kidnapped, getting sick, not liking the food or getting lost. My best friend. Lizzy. The one who has been there for everything, won't be there. Of course we can Skype and facebook each other, but not hearing her infectious laugh, her allergy sniffles and her "American Idol" singing voice kills me.

This whole post sounds so stupid, everyone has a best friend they think they can't live without...but Lizzy is different. We just get each other. Even if we don't know every detail about one another's current lives, we still know everything about each other. I can tell you why she's mad, why she's giving you the silent treatment, the face she makes when a food has a bad texture, how she lives for tissues, why the bed shakes when she laughs and what makes her smile ear to ear. Vice Versa she can tell you why I am in a bad mood, why I hate fake air, why I laugh when old people fall, the love I have for my Mom and when spotting a deer is more important than watching the road. It just works. There's no other friendship I have ever had that just feels perfect. When we are together, everything is just right in the world. No matter if we are just sitting on her bed talking for hours or skydiving together, our friendship is filled with love.  Sure we have had our fights and issues, like the time we didn't speak for 2 weeks in the 4th grade or when we kind of weren't friends sophomore year of high school. But nothing has ever changed. We are best friends, forever.

Lizzy is the most amazing person I have ever met. She holds a newborn baby like it is the most joyous thing in the world, her creativity boggles my left brain, she is kind and the word compassionate doesn't even do her justice. She's incredibly smart, can ace any multiple choice test and knows some super random facts. It's weird we became friends. Parts of us are strikingly similar, and then other characteristics couldn't be more different. A simple phone call changed us forever and this proves that everything does happen for a reason.

I pray that being away from her gets easier and we will always remain each other's "frick" and "frack". I found a quote the other day while stumbling that sums up our entire friendship perfectly. Lizzy will be happy to hear this quote is from some lame movie she always made me watch called, The Little Rascals. "You only meet your once in a lifetime friend, once in a lifetime." I can't wait to come home and tell you everything about my trip, see your second year portfolio, go on more roadtrips, see more concerts, be happy, read books, watch you do crafty things, go to dinner and laugh with you. And I can't wait to be in each other's weddings, babysit your kids, volunteer with you, write you cards for Holidays, build an orphanage in Africa with you, win the Noble Peace Prize and grow old with you :]

And to answer the question I have avoided ten thousand times...where will you be in ten years? I have no fucking clue. All I can say is that you will be happy, compassionate, loving, giving and we will be friends. Isn't that all that really matters? :] I love you more than you'll ever know and am beyond grateful for the coolest friend ever. LOVE ALWAYS.

teaner.