Today, I am extremely thankful for good friends.

Moving to Washington was hard, because I left behind my best friends and my family. Basically everything I knew, I left, and the impact of that doesn’t escape me even now. I feel like I’ve written about it so many times over the last six years, and that’s not what this entry is really about anyway. It’s about what I still have, on this day.

Time can definitely change and separate people, but if you truly had a bond to begin with, nothing really changes. I am so lucky to have some of the same friends I’ve had since turning eighteen and leaving high school. People that I can turn to if I ever needed a listening ear, people that know my heart and the silly girl inside. No matter how much time has gone by since I saw them last, they’re friends, and I’m very lucky.

Then I have what I like to call “next level” friends. The people who are all of the above, and so much more. They are the ones I look up to, have learned from, and hold so dear to me that it almost pains me to not be able to see them daily. These people have gone on adventures with me, have sat with me until late into the night talking about life, loss, and the deep happiness only we could know. I am so, so blessed to have these people in my life, even if they aren’t near me all the time. I am so lucky to have soulmates in this world.

“People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that’s what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life.

A true soul mate is probably the most important person you’ll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave.

A soul mates purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master…”

It’s true. Ninety nine percent of the people I get along with and love so much, are people that I rarely see. Obviously, there is an exception in my boyfriend, but if we had the same intense relationship that Heather Lynn and I share (for example)…I could never stand to be with him for long. Nor he with me:)

Thank you friends, for being the love and affection that every girl needs outside of a mate. For teaching me, exposing me to my flaws, and loving me anyway.