There was a time when I thought people only changed your life if they stayed in it. Sometimes someone comes into your life, gets so close to you that they become part of who you are, changes how you think and how you see yourself, and then life somehow still takes you in different directions.

We were so close, but we were also so different. I honestly don’t know how we became as close as we did. We thought differently, handled things differently, and looked at life from completely different perspectives. There were things about me you probably never understood, and there were things about you that I had to learn how to understand. 

You made me realize things about myself that I wasn’t ready to see. Some of those realizations were good, and some of them were uncomfortable. You made me question how I handled things, how I loved people, what I tolerated, what I ran away from, and even what I wanted out of my life. You made me look at myself differently. I don’t think you even realized you were doing it, you were just being you.

The way I think about certain things, the way I handle situations, the way I understand people, even some of the things I believe about life have pieces of you somewhere in them. But knowing you gave me another perspective, and somehow that helped me understand my own.

You were there when I was figuring out so much about myself and life. You challenged me without always meaning to. You made me think. You made me feel things deeply. You made me face parts of myself that would’ve been easier to ignore.

I became better because of it, because you never judged me. People love a certain aspect of my personality and it came from you.

Sometimes people leave, and all you can think about is what their absence took from you. When I think of you, I think about what you left behind. 

You made me better, and I’m still realizing how much you impacted me today. You were always there for me, and I wish so much I could tell you how much I miss you in my life. You said our friendship was forever and yet I’m here typing this without you.