Best Friends: Twenty Years and Counting

To Janly,

It’s hard to believe we have been best friends for over twenty years now. Looking back, it’s hard to remember when we became us. When I met you, I was just your brother’s girlfriend. My earliest memory of you consists of you locking me out of your house. And the time I bought you a toy stable for your birthday, which you proceeded to quickly destroy. Neither one of us imagined at the time how close we would one day become.

When your brother and I broke up, you were there to help pick up the pieces. We discovered that we actually had a lot in common. You made me laugh, when otherwise I would have been crying. We have always had each other’s backs through the good times and the bads. Although there have been times when we have fought, we always come back together, more than friends, but like sisters born into different families.

I have so many memories of our adventures together. My favorite would have to be the walks that we would take when it would be freezing. We would be wearing leather jackets, yet we would be eating ice cream cones. There was that trip that we had taken that summer and we stopped at McDonalds for a McFlurry. The machine broke right when it was time for you to get yours. We drove around forever to several McDonalds’ and gas stations and all were out of ice cream. You were in tears until we finally found you some, and we all broke into cheers. I also couldn’t forget our sleepover when I wore the Cher wig and we sang I Got You Babe.

When we grew older, you were my maid of honor at my wedding, and was the first person I told when I found out I was having my son, and when I was getting divorced. We’ve talked about family, friends, boyfriends, and breakups. We gave each other the nicknames Janly and Joliver, because we were so much like the classic comedic team Laurel and Hardy. We dreamed of one day taking a cross country road trip and living like the Golden Girls, though we never could quite agree on who was who in the group.

Now that we have grown up, life has become a bit more complicated for both of us. Saturday afternoon shopping trips and long Jenga games were traded for jobs, bills, relationships, kids, and health issues. You live in Missouri now, and I’m still in Mississippi. We don’t get to talk nearly as much as once did, but when we do, we’re still Janly and Joliver. Still as close as ever.

True friendship is hard to find, and I am so grateful that I found you. You’re one of the only ones who knows everything about me. There are no words to truly express what you mean to me. It seems like only yesterday when we were walking in the snow with our ice cream cones. Now we are in our thirties. As we are quickly approaching Golden Girls age, I can clearly imagine us sitting around a table still talking about boys while eating cheesecake. It always brings a smile to my face.

As we continue to go through this crazy roller coaster ride we call life, know that I will always be here for you. You’re like a little sister to me, and the longest friendships I have ever had. Twenty years have gone by in the blink of an eye, and so will the next twenty. But no matter what those years bring us, we will go through it together. I love you Janly, you truly are my best friend forever.

Love You Always,

Joliver