I miss you. All of you.

I used to see you nearly every day, or at least on a weekly basis.

You made me laugh profusely, taught me new things, provided a shoulder to cry on, gave me advice, expanded my horizons of interest, filled me with inspiration, and configured the person I am today.

We keep in contact through an occasional Snapchat or text message, but that’s about all it is. Sometimes, we meet up on the weekends and spill our laughter and words all over the floor, but the weeks that follow remain empty for future notice.

Every time we spent our days together—whether it was in hours of dance classes, afterschool conversations about our melancholic days, or twenty-minute drives to the same location—I revered every second of it.

But when the obscurities of life became abundant, a part of me crumbled. You moved on, and I was still here. I did not have knowledge of this deteriorating side of me until I realized that the patterns that I have come to be strikingly familiar with have ended.

I was sedated by solitude, craving any semblance of the pattern I used to know. Everything felt so unnatural and incomplete. Nothing was the same.

But then the thought occurred to me. 

Life is like a plant. It starts with a fresh sense of warmth and unity in the beginning and winds along that path for some time, but then there comes a point where a new stem emerges from the vine and starts on a new journey. These stems keep developing and depart in new directions. Thorns establish themselves along the way, providing pain and obstacles. Once every stem and vine has reached the pinnacle of growth, they flourish into bursts of colorful petals. Every vine reaches a culminated state of beauty and fulfillment, even interwoven with the other stems ever so often.

Life isn’t supposed to be a static process; it’s riddled with constant alterations that we—as human beings—are forced to adapt to. People filter in and out—as they should. Every individual has such a convoluted mind and road to follow through the span of life. 

But that is just how it all works out. We meet friends that become mended to our identities, who then shift to a new setting with new people and new things. 

With that said, I am so, so happy for you. I love that you have discovered new passions. I love that you have established your place in a different surrounding and that you have met more people who make you feel warm and happy.

I look back and realize the times we had together were entitled to those specific time frames. There was no way for them to be extended. Life had individualized plans for all of us, that all required different due dates.

We are now accommodating for our own separate tasks that call our names, and we now tend to the other loving people who are involved in our lives.

I am so content with the moments we experienced together. They taught me a variety of lessons that I still incorporate into my way of being.

Our old inside jokes continue to feed my soul and spread a smile across my face when I think about them. I have put what you taught me into use, and I now am involved in subjects and classes I never thought I had the capability to do. I remember choreography for dances we performed together that still bring me total enlightenment. I hear songs you used to play all the time, and you come to mind as the lyrics run.

You flipped my stressful days into blissful moments of humor and comfort, and that is the best gift I could receive. No matter what paths we are on, just know that I am so grateful for our friendship and all the joy and inspiration it brought me.

Thank you endlessly.