"If you have one true friend, you have more than your share." - Thomas Fuller

I have the perfect best friend. Yes, go ahead and say that about yours all you want. But basically everybody I've met, they have a best friend who talks shit about them, lies to them, is mean to them, or just doesn't treat them good. I've met a few exceptions of course. I can't tell you how much I love it when I see two best friends who treat each other wonderfully and keep each other safe from the hellish blizzard of drama that school and normal life brings. It's so nice to know that these people have at least ONE person who will always be a sort of sanctuary from the poison around them. Who sincerely enjoys being around them, stands up for them, always gives good advice, always cares in general, and is just good to and for them.
That is exactly what a best friend should be. They shouldn't be the thorn in your side, they should be the kind person who pulls it out (I hope that doesn't sound to stupid haha). But you know what I mean? When you have one of those days when a couple friends screw you over, but it feels like EVERYONE has, and you wonder who you can trust...your best friend should be the first person to come to mind. If you can't trust your best friend, they shouldn't be your best friend. Search elsewhere, there is one out there. But if your best friend doesn't screw you over, then you scored big time. And should never let them go.

Which brings me to the point of this: today, July 3rd, 2009, my best friend Kate Elizabeth Landon turns 16. We've been friends since girl scouts in about 1st grade. We're juniors now. That's ten years of knowing each other. Ten years of talking, laughing, telling stories, and sharing memories. Ten years of fun, fun, fun. Ten years of friendship.
AND I get to call her my best friend. Come on, knowing each other for ten years AND getting to be best friends? That's time and friendship in the same thing. How much better could you get? :]]]
Since we have a habbit of reminding each other how much we mean to each other on our birthdays, I'm going to keep that going this year. And I'm putting it in my blogspot, since we both loooove writing in these things, and agree these are incredible helpful for our sanity at times. I don't mean to offend any of my other friends in this by the way, so if you read it, please don't be upset or offended. I don't mean to make it sound rude. Here goooooes!


Dear Kate Landon!

You are the best friend I have. I will say that right now. No offense to my other friends, but you're my best friend so you're just special. I have told you that plenty of times, in person and through texting/myspace/AIM, all that. And I mean it. Every. Single. Time. There are so many things you do for me and our friendship that I adore. I'm pretty sure we have both tried to list every single thing, and it's never worked. There are to many small things to list, and it's to hard to list every single big thing. So, these are my favorites :]

You don't talk bad about me, ever. You keep every single secret I tell you. You are always always always nice to me. You don't even make mean jokes to me, which I honestly appreciate (those things just get to you after a while, you know!). You always have the perfect, nearly flawless advice for any situation. And you always make me feel better, or at least try. Even if you have no idea who the people I'm talking about are, or don't really get the feel of the situation. You almost always let us sleep over at your house, even though I know you like despise staying at your house half the time and we have fun at mine even though I always insist it's boring and has no furniture (I stick with my furniture argument however ;]). You are always fun to be around, even if you're tired or grumpy. Even if we're not really talking or laughing, I always love being around you simply because you're such an amazing, good friend to me, and it's just awesome knowing there's still at least one person who I know genuinely cares about me. I hope I don't sound conceited saying that hahaha. But you know what I mean. I think it's really cool and patient of you to let me show you 9573475438 videos on youtube when we both think it's annoying when people are like, "OMG WATCH THIS VIDEO IT'S SO FUNNYYYYY", or let me show you a million songs I like that you don't always end up liking. It's really sweet of you to tolerate that, and I seriously appreciate that so much. Thank you thank you thank you :]]] I'm one of those people who sometimes goes crazy showing people stuff that I like, and I know it get annoying. I wanna thank you very much right now for tolerating that and being patient.


Thank you so much for not talking shit about me, or telling my secrets. We're able to complain about other people to each other, and we've traded secrets to each other, but we (or at least I, hopefully you too) don't do this while wondering, "is she doing this to me behind my back?". Nope. I don't know about you, but I don't think twice about it. You're the special friend that I don't worry about getting back stabbed by. There are plenty of people who I've felt like don't genuinely like me, or who I KNOW talk bad about me (sometimes on their accord, sometimes just joining in with others) or tell my secrets (whether it be to someone who they're barely friends with, or to THEIR special best friend). But you are not one of them. I completely trust you, and would trust you with my life :] I am able to confidently know that if someone says something bad about me to you, you will stand up for me. And you know I do the exact same for you, so I am assuming we are all good on that. And I KNOW that you don't repeat any secrets of mine to anyone, even Amanda. Which means a lot, if you don't repeat them even to her, because she is your other best friend. No offense meant to Amanda in this, don't worry! Anyways, you know trust means a lot to me. And it's one of the best things about our friendship, that I can trust you. And I assume you know that you can trust me, because you are one of the people I would never, ever want to screw over. Ever. So thank you :]]]

You're always willing to explain things to me. Your stories that I'm to dumb to understand, complicated jokes, or just weird stuff. You NEVER blow me off with a, "never mind, I give up" or a, "just forget about it", or, "whatever, it's not important". Because you know how curious I am and it would possibly drive me crazy later. You never make me feel like I'm not important to you (I make us sound like such lesbians haha), or like you don't really give a crap about me. Ever since we had that huge talk about our problems in 7th grade (aka the last time we had something that even resembled a fight), I have not gone through one day in my life feeling like you wouldn't be there for me. Which is IMPRESSIVE because you definitely know how needy and whiny and sensitive I am when it comes to even the smallest signs of "friend rejection" or whatever you wanna call it. I hope I am making sense, I'm listening to music while I write this and tend to kind of not make sense when I do that. Hot Air Balloon by Owl City, good song ;] Anyways, I can honestly say the only times I've ever felt like you don't want me around nowadays are when I like run over to when you're with your friends. But then again, your friends (you know who) and I don't quite get along so that is actually quite understandable haha.

Hmm what else. Oh right, we can talk about ANYTHING. A lot of best friends say that, but I bet they'd be to wussy to do PWYR's ;] It's like there's no topic off limits for you. I love how you will literally talk about anything. Stuff that most of my other friends would get either grossed out by or wouldn't care about. That's like the coolest thing, knowing, "so and so won't be into discussing this with me, but I can talk to Kate about it next time we hang out!" So great. You're not awkward, I'm totally comfortable telling you anything. YOU NEVER JUDGE ME OMG. I love that part! I know that I can tell you seriously anything and you won't be like, "Hilary told me blah blah blah....it was kind of...weird." to your friends the next day. I can't handle when people do that, and I know you don't like it either.


So thank you very, very, very, very much, for never judging me, or making me keep something pent up inside that I want to get out. Thank you for always listening. I'll say it again, because that's one of the best things you do for me. Thank you for always listening. Thank you for always listening. Thank you thank you thank you for always listening.

:]]]


I will always return the favor. Okay? I made that green so you'd read it again, because I mean it. Even if we stop being best friends for some reasons, and become just normal friends, I will always be there to listen without judging. I promise.

Thank you for always laughing with me at the worst things that make us feel like horrible people for laughing at, like Smeagol being a jew, or "the retard walk" (you might not remember that one!). Thank you for saying, "we are horrible people!" when I'm to lazy too. Thanks for laughing, whether it's real or fake, at 90% of my lame jokes. And of course, thank you for making ME laugh, especially when I really need it. Thank you for never saying things like, "Hilary...come on, don't say/do that, that's mean" when I'm being a bad person, and thank you for instead just laughing or joining in with me.

Thank you for being an introvert, and not showing that many people your true colors easily...because if everyone saw how fun and cool you were all the time, there would probably be a lot more competition to face when I want to hang out with you. I sound like a total best friend hog saying that, but I'm sure you know what I mean!


Thank you for being one of the biggest comforts in my life. I probably sound kind of creepy saying that but you know what I mean haha. Whenever I'm in a stressful situation, or in a fight with someone, I just have to think, "I can call Kate later and vent to her about this" and I feel a little better. Even if I never actually end up calling you. Did I mention you're amazing at making me feel better? You always know exactly what to say. You ALWAYS take my side, which is almost always exactly what I need. Sometimes, I know I end up taking the other persons side when you take mine. Like I'll be in a fight with someone, and you'll be like, "well they're just being immature! You did the right thing" or something. And sometimes, I'll be like, "well yeah but I did kind of do it without their permission." I'll take their side even though I basically asked you to take mine, you know? This is probably making no sense. But if you're understanding this, just know that I appreciate when you tolerate me being all complicated like that. You never get all annoyed, you just keep going. I love that, thank you sooo much. Also, you never have to pressure me into telling you what's wrong, because I completely trust you with whatever is going on. If I got pregnant, or got an STD or something, you'd be the first person I'd tell, and I probably wouldn't even have to tell you not to tell anyone because you're smart and use your logic to figure out if I'd appreciate you telling someone or not. And I know you wouldn't judge me! You're always so helpful and sincerely try to think of a good solution. You also tend to give new, original advice that I haven't heard before. You're the one who told me that amazingly helpful, "when in doubt, apologize" bit. That's helped me save so many friendships, it's insane. You might not realize this, but you helped me realize that pride doesn't mean anything when it comes to saving friendships. That I should always just apologize. Just like Danielle helped me realize that I should never talk bad about my friends, you showed me that amazingly useful piece of advice. THANK YOU!


So, there you go. Those are my favorite things about you that I've seen over those 10 years of friendship. You sincerely care about me, you tolerate all my flaws and annoying moments, you don't judge me, you listen to me, you don't lie or talk bad about me, you're never mean to me, you laugh with me, you give me advice, you're just really good to me. My parents always say how, "they love Kate!" when you're mentioned, and I'm really glad my parents see how good of a friend you are too even though I tend to roll my eyes when my dad asks constantly if we're still friends if I haven't mentioned your name in two weeks haha. Our friendship, like almost all others, has small flaws. We don't hang out as much as we'd like to, and we get annoyed with each other from time to time. But hey, I'm a hard person to handle sometimes, so you get the biggest pat on the back ever for being able to tolerate me as a best friend :P Thank you so much for still wanting to hang out with me after all these years, even though I'm sure I'm not always super fun to be around. So basically, I'm gonna say what I've said to you for past few birthdays: I love you, and deeply appreciate you, and you are my best, best, best friend. Forever <33
Happy birthday!
:DDDD











"A best friend is someone who knows all about you... and loves you anyway."