It's basically a love letter.

My best friend has been my best friend since we were three.

The thing about being three is that you sort of magically make friends with your peers. I honestly can't tell you what it was that started us off, but I can tell you that it was at the preschool that used to be at the Gilroy Parks and Recreation building at Las Animas Park. I haven't been to that part of town in years, so I have no idea if it's still there, but I can see it in my mind's eye. All I know for sure is that we found each other...and proceeded to put the baby dolls in the play oven. When kindergarten started, wouldn't you know it, we were at the same school in the same class.

I don't know what this world looks like without her in it.

We skipped through childhood together. We navigated adolescence together. We despaired through early adulthood together. And now, we're barreling at top speed toward middle age--together. We were always a good match, mostly because she was painfully shy and I...well, I wasn't. I've always been all edges, and she's always been more delicate. I feel like we've grown into ourselves in reverse--I've had to learn softness, and she's had to learn when to be hard.

She was always an artist--even when we were very small indeed. Now, she teaches art at our old high school, which is such a perfect thing for her to be doing, and I am so proud that she made that happen for herself. She made her own way there in her own time, the same way she's always done everything. She is an enchanting amalgam of every woman described in Joni Mitchell's Ladies of the Canyon. She makes me laugh. She's the person I moan to about life. She's the first person I tell about pretty much anything. She is my favorite, and my best, and my constant. I love her so much it hurts--but in the best possible way. She has been with me all of my memorable life. I don't intend for that to ever change.

Thirty-three years is a long time.

One hundred and thirty-three years wouldn't be long enough.

 

The photo is one I took in 2003 or 2004 for a composition assignment in my high school photography class. It remains my favorite photo of her to this day.