Dear Courtney...

An open letter to the girl turned roommate turned friend turned best friend turned sister

Dear Courtney
We often joke around that you are the reason I stayed. As much as we joke around about it, that is very much the truth. I loved PLNU from the beginning but felt that I could never truly connect with people there. Let me tell you. I was so completely, utterly wrong, just about as wrong as I was about that other thing (*inside joke, you'll get it). I developed many genuine connections and most of all I developed a friendship with you. Little did I know that I would be leaving college with a discovery of a sister and a life long friend.
After roughly 4 years, 1460 days, 35,000 hours, 2100000 minutes together and about every experience possible experienced together, I quite literally would not be the person I am today if it wasn't for you. Death, break ups, boy problems, boy crazes, academic successes, failed exam, jobs offered and jobs turned away, family misunderstands, leasing our first apartment, car problems and just dealing with life. I could write pages on the experiences we have shared and overcome together.
You were by my side when I cried for hours and poured more water than Niagara Falls. You let me tell you the same story over and over again and listened with an open heart and open mind every time. You forced me to go to the hospital and saved my life. You came to my rescue that one time my credit cards wouldn’t work. You have forgiven me for the many times I hit you in my sleep. You’ve let me into your family and you’ve welcomed mine with open arms. You can understand what's going on by a single glance and I will forever believe in our "roommate telepathy." You are a true, one of a kind, genuine, honest, beautiful, driven woman and I don’t thank God enough that I get to call you my best friend.

The amount of similarities we share is from what I have been told is “unheard of” and people often tell us that we got “really lucky,” but I know for a fact that we did not get lucky. Only God could have made our friendship possible and you are by far the biggest blessing that came from my time at Point Loma. I remember our first “roommate bonding” experiencing when we decided that walking 10 miles to get Fiji yogurt was a great idea. Since then our adventures have consisted of the most unusual places and pairings but every moment spent with you has endless potential to be some of the best moments of the day. I still laugh when I recall how you flew out of the courtesy shuttle and we ended up pretending to be old people at a 24 hour Walgreens, laughing until our eyes were filled with tears.

In my prayers, I selfishly ask that come Sunday at 5 PM, we will find out that nothing changes and I will still awake to the cup of coffee you leave every morning on my bedside table and come home to Wednesday Melissa and Joey nights. We can complain to each other about the misery of getting dressed and talk about how all we want to do is wear work out clothes every day. We will continue to spam each other with recipes and restaurant news and continue to share 4 dozen eggs, jugs of salsa and boxes of almond milk. You will continue to play “let it go” and I will put up with it. I will continue to laugh at you when you get coffee high and the fact that you save your tea bags for days.  You understand that a pound of carrots and a gallon of salsa totally qualify as a meal and engaging in a full on twitter conversation is acceptable as well.
  

When we find out whether we get to continue our heaven sent rooming set up or whether you continue to spread your love and joy in a city up north, I want you to know you will always be one of my best friends. What I don’t know is who will engage in Badunkachunk cookie runs with me or call every Fiji in town asking, “Can you tell me what your Wow-Cow flavor is today?”  I really don’t want to lose you to San Francisco but if that just so happens to be God’s plan, I want you to know that no amount of miles can ever distance you from my heart. 

Thank you for teaching me about life. Thank you for your living example of drive and dedication. Thank you for demonstrating what it means to love and care. Thank you for being an example of what it means to be a student, a sister, a daughter, a friend, a worker and a sister in Christ. Thank you for inspiring me to take on new challenges and for stopping me when my choices were not on par. Thank you for everything you have done and said and cleaned and picked up and delivered and signed for me but most of you, thank you for being the person I could ALWAYS count down. Not matter the time, no matter the day, I always know that you are there and that will never change. 

  

I love you so much and I am so excited for whatever life brings us next. There is nothing more that I want for you than to be given your heart’s desires. God knows you deserve them and than some.

 With endless love and gratitude,Your crazy Russian partner in crime