A Letter to My Best Friend (2023 edition)
On her birthday! :)
Dear *****,
You are such a special girl. Radiant, kind, humble, lively, intelligent, and empathetic, you're the complete package! It is pretty much impossible to be sad or mad for too long in your presence, and spending time with you always brings me so much joy. The brightest girl in the whole wide world deserves the brightest, happiest birthday!
I just reread the card I wrote you last year, and I can't stop smiling. I feel like my description of our friendship perfectly conveyed just how easy it is for me to love you. I love you more than you know!
Last year, we chose to spend all of our weekdays and most of our weekends together. On a random Tuesday at 3:00 PM, we'd head out of our room safe haven to do random things, like go grocery shopping or hiking. In fact, throughout the week, we accomplished a huge variety of activities together, including climbing up to the Big C and taste testing donuts, taco Tuesdaying at Raleigh's, floating around in tubs with tons of salt in them, tossing your poor teddy bear back and forth across our room, picnicking in the grass on campus, Orange Theorying (okay, this was mostly me), apartment hunting in SF, watching ballet performances, trying vegan sushi, cartwheeling at Stanford (you were a good teacher but I only accomplished like a quarter of a cartwheel), cleaning up mold on our windowsill, playing pool with a bunch of Irish guys, squishing into my bed and suffering through each episode of Squid Game. It feels like we barely even went to class (okay, fine, you always went to class and I always slept in). We basically did whatever we wanted all day. I will forever cherish those memories. Last year, I came to the realization that I am so grateful my parents moved houses from Santa Clara to Fremont in 2009, and that I did enough hard work in high school to get into Berkeley, and that I became friends with ******* in 2019, and that I got brutally dumped by my sophomore-year roommate, because that specific sequence of events led me to you. It feels like our friendship was just meant to be. I swear, it feels like life got a lot brighter after I met you. From that very first day when I confided in you about my insecurities, I feel so at ease with you. I feel like I can tell you anything.
Our experience living in San Francisco has been pretty different than our experience living in Berkeley. One of the biggest changes was that we both started working 9-5 jobs. We also got new roommates and a nicer, bigger apartment. We no longer have our college community. After working for 8 hours, we usually choose to relax in our PJs instead of going out. We celebrated important events together, like Thanksgiving dinner and my dad's 50th. Instead of walks across campus, we go on walks to the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, or the Mission District. No more Raleigh's, Toss, Kingpin Donuts. Now, we frequent Brazilian cafés, the Ferry Building, El Faro. We don't get to spend most days together anymore. And right now, we're both facing challenges that are unfortunately a part of life. Sometimes it feels like we're 21 year-old Vanya and ***** again, and we're both a little lost. Honestly, I don't mind the random ups and downs as much since I get to share them with you.
Things have changed since college, but one thing that will always remain constant is how much I love and care for you. I feel really fucking lucky to call you my friend. Seriously, I must've done something miraculously amazing in my previous life to get to be your friend in this one.
Love, Vanya
