To My Friends (Who Deserve All the Love Poems) by Jillian Law

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