A post for Hilary

This post is for you Hilary, and it is going to be sentimental (possibly overly so at times) and a tad silly, but with good intentions, so hold onto your socks and take a nostalgic journey with me.

I never have to tell you how much you mean to me, because it is an unspoken communication, an unsaid understanding in the silences and in the laughter throughout the years, but I was feeling all mushy and tenderhearted looking at our picture, so I decided to write this blog for you.

It takes a long time to grow an old friend. ~John Leonard

I have known you for 5/6 of my life now, and that's a pretty long time. From macaroni lunches, playing bump on the swings, adventures getting stuck in mud, sliding down the stairs "whoosh" in plastic bag covered cushions, to middle school and broken bones and braces, to lemonade stands to different high schools and now thousands of miles apart, we have gone through a lot together.

I remember we used to dress up in the same colored clothes and ask my mom if we looked like twins and she would always replay "Yes! You look exactly alike!" and we would smile huge smiles. It didn't matter that I was always a head taller and my long red blond hair contrasted strikingly against your black.

There is nothing I can write here that you don't already know, but that's what makes it meaningful, so I want to say it anyway. I sometimes don't even realize how much I have changed until I am with you and I look at you and see we have both grown older.

You are the funniest person I know. You are the only person who has ever made me laugh so hard and uncontrollably that I couldn't stop until you made me play 52 card pick up until I could control myself. You have been there for everything, and I'm excited to watch us change together, follow our dream careers, get married, have kids (?), grow grey hair and still take pictures with those same identical smirks on our faces from when we were 5.

I am so proud of you and all you have accomplished. You are an amazing piano player, talented musician, and a beautiful friend! Thanks Hilary :)