Dear Ruby,

To say you’re my best friend would be a complete disservice to everything you are to me.

At this point, I have known you most of my life. We have been friends for 10 years; ever since the day we met at the playground across from my house when I lived in Washington State. It’s funny how the smallest moments can completely alter the course of your life.

We had moved to Washington in the summer of 2015 for my dad’s job, and my parents were searching for a school for me. After realizing we were only a couple streets over, your parents convinced mine to enroll me into your montessori. We weren’t in the same class, but I only went to the Montessori because of you.

I remember going trick-or-treating the first year I was in Washington. You were Elsa from “Frozen” and I was Captain America. That was the first time I truly had fun on Halloween. As we went door-to-door on a never-ending candy spree, every moment with you felt never-ending.

When we moved back to Texas two years later, I was terrified of losing you. My parents promised me we’d come visit, but I thought that was a lie and I would eventually forget about everything. However, we came back the next summer. Then the summer after that. Then again a couple years later. We did have other friends up there when we came to visit, don’t get me wrong, but being with you and your siblings was the main reason. We wouldn’t be flying up to Washington most summers if it wasn’t for you.

I’d never had a true friend before you. I had “friends” before, of course. However, those were friends I met on a playground. They were friends I can’t remember the face of. However, you were my first true friend. The first person I’ve been able to go months without talking to and then pick up right where we left off. The first person I spent random nights watching TV wondering how you were doing. The first person outside my family who knew me better than myself.

Then I realized you were family.

You taught me family isn’t just the people you’re related to. It’s the people you hold with you through everything, no matter how far apart you may be from one another. It’s the people who, on any given day, you’d jump off Mount Everest for. No matter how far you are or how long it’s been, I know I’ll never truly lose you. Without a shadow of a doubt, I love you, Ruby. Truthfully, I can’t just call you my best friend — you are my sister.

We’ve started forming ideas for the family vacation for this summer. While a couple ideas have floated through the air, I’ll be fighting for Washington. Washington means you. However, even if that doesn’t work out, I’m not scared like I used to be. I know that, at the end of the day, it’s still you and me, and I don’t plan on letting that change.

Love,

Your sister Juliana