LYLAS

I remember when I met my best friend. Jr. high cheerleading during practice after school. She gave me her phone number and that night I called her. Ten years later, I still remember sitting in the computer chair at my house in the kitchen and talking to her about school, other girls on the squad, and other teenage stuff. She had beautiful blond hair, cupids bow lips and perfect skin; quite the opposite of my braces, thick glasses and dirty brown hair. But soon after that I stayed overnight at her house and we laughed all night and I knew in my heart we would be best friends forever.

The years went by with late nights planning our lives according to our teenage ideals of what our future should be like. We learned a lot, drank a lot, and stayed inseparable. We had a rough patch, but thats just life.

Luckily, last summer we became even closer by shared crises in our lives. We reconnected with pain, but now find comfort in our relationship. We don't not have to be inseparable like we once were, but are not afraid of distance bacause we know we have a bond like none other.

Recently, my best friend found out she has some problems that may not go away. It amazing how people can be brought together by bad news - I suppose its the good that comes from the bad. If not for our problems we experienced in the past year, we may not be as close as we are now. We would still feel that rough patch. Now I can say we're going through another rough time, but we are doing it together and I'll be with her all the way. I can't pass her notes in the hall anymore or have lunch with her everyday like we used to, but I can support her and love her.......what else are friends for?