To Grace, my oldest friend
We meet playing softball as kids
I stuck with softball a lot longer than I would have
without you
I’ve stuck with a lot of things because of you
Since this is a love poem, here are a few things I
love about you
You are freakishly smart but never advertise it
You constantly introduce me to new and interesting
things
You slay like Buffy but have a heart as big as
Willow’s
You are fundamentally the person you have always been,
which is a rare and beautiful thing
To Caroline, the other third of our trio
You are brightness and laughter and fun
When I think of you, I think of sleepovers watching
HSM 3 and bad karaoke and the night we couldn’t get into OLV and saw Prom
instead
You make me laugh, and you keep me sane
What do I love about you?
You are a better listener than anyone I know.
You never stop trying to make me have new experiences
You are the best cheerleader a friend could have
To G, my best friend in high school
On paper, we don’t make sense
You hunt and drive a truck, I write and wear red
lipstick
But we did make sense
We don’t talk much these days, busy lives and all,
But I know that you always have my back
G, you are generous and warm without ever thinking about
it
When I needed a ride, you drove me around
When I had a nervous breakdown, you came home
Thank you for your hugs and your kindness and for
always answering the phone
To Rachel, or Senator Wagner as you will always be in
my contacts
Basically, we became friends in Christian Morality
because we were part of the small groups of people
(Really just you, G, Theresa, and me)
With morals
That first judgement hasn’t steered me wrong
For years, you kept us together: sleepovers, pool
parties, game nights…
Even though you’ve moved, I think we’ll still stay
together
Senator, I admire your drive
You are fiercely intelligent and unapologetically
ambitious
Even though we will never agree politically, I respect
the way you stand by what you believe and continue to grow and learn
Whatever you end up doing in life, I know you will
pursue it with passion and good intentions
To Irese, who I knew in high school but not well
We were in the same circles, but we didn’t become
friends until I started driving you home from Rachel’s
Our friendship was forged in Lola, on highways and in
your driveway
Now, I think, how were we never friends before?
What would I do without our driveway conversations?
Without your text messages arguing about Gilmore Girls
or bemoaning Bradley Cooper’s Oscar chances?
Without having you to talk at movies with?
Without you to raise me up, talk me off a ledge, and
make me think?
To Marwah and Sarah, my Madonna girls
To Marwah, my mom friend, who does her best to keep me
alive
To Sarah, my doppleganger, my favorite nerd
We met through the Writing Center (thank you,
Frances), and you guys continue to be one of my favorite things about work
Thank you, ladies, for constantly hyping me up
For making me laugh always
For our group chat and that trip to the DIA where we
almost got kicked out because Marwah touched the art
For your mom tendencies and nerdy jokes and strong
hugs
And to all my friends, past and present
That I didn’t have time to mention
Thank you
I love you
If I had more pages, I would mention each and every
one of you
You all deserve love poems
