Dear Old Friend,

It has been almost four years since the last time we saw or spoke to each other. Four years since I moved away. It is both amazing and scary how fast the years have gone by. And yet, we are still so young. We may grumble and talk about how old we are getting, how life is moving too fast, but, when you think about it, there is still so much that awaits us. There are still so many more years of new opportunities to pursue, experiences to take in, and people to welcome into our lives.

Once, that had been you and me.

We had been children then, no more than 4’5”. You always had your hair in a braid, and I always had mine down. You always brought your lunch, and I always bought mine. We were two strangers living our lives side-by-side, knowing only of each other and not one another. I don’t remember the first time we spoke—it must have been through a mutual friend—but I remember that we clicked. We became, as cheesy as it sounds, two peas in a pod where one was not without the other.

We’d always hang out at recess, lunch, and before school, sharing stories, playing games, and bonding over books. We were the teacher’s pets, the smart ones, the awkward ones, and the artistic ones. Do you remember? Do you remember the times when we’d talk for hours, when we’d hang out at the mall from morning until night? Do you remember the times we’d go out to eat, when we’d get fro-yo and wait until it melted? Because I do.

I remember how we always managed to get the same answers on tests and essay prompts without even realizing it. I remember how we would dress each other up in the most atrocious outfits we could find. I remember the day you broke up with your boyfriend outside the movie theater on Hacienda Drive while our other friend and I waited in the car. I remember how you hated hugs but would still put up with them. I would list more memories that we shared, but what would be the point?

Now, we are worlds apart—two lone dots on a map separated by more than some number of inches on a page. How did this happen? I am not sure, or maybe I do know. It isn’t like we haven’t been separated before. We had gone two years apart when you had temporarily moved away in middle school, and we were able to pick things up like it had never even happened. But it’s different now.

If we were to ever meet again, I cannot say if we could go back to how it once was as we had so easily done before. We are both different now. Or at least I feel different, and I wouldn’t change a thing. I am happier now, more so than I have been in a long time, and I hope the same for you even if it means not needing me in your life. Sometimes we have to let people go regardless of whether we want to or not. As people say, things happen for a reason. I’d like to think so.

Regardless, I am thankful for all the times we had spent together, every moment of laughter or tears or even both. We were such awkward and weird people, but that’s why we worked. So for that, thank you. Thank you for being there and being a part of my life even if it was just for a moment.

I am sorry for not keeping in touch, for not reaching out. Maybe things would have been different if I had, but what is done is done, and we can only move on from here. Perhaps one day we will see each other again, but until then, I bid you adieu and wish you well.

Best Wishes,

Cassandra