Happy Birthday, Vittoria!
During this time, I’d like to express to you all my emotions towards my best friend. Many of you have known her for years, and watched her grow up. Although I can’t say I’ve been in her life very long, we’ve been through so much together. She’s been my person that can understand me in a way no one else has. She’s the type of person you can talk to about anything and she wouldn’t judge you. Despite all she’s unfairly gone through, she’s continued to put her best foot forward towards people. No matter how many times she was wronged, she’d still display the love she feels from the bottom of her heart. She’s truly an amazingly loving person. Whereas a lot of times people view her negatively, based on unjust moments and not her sincere emotions.
Even now, I recall the day we first encountered each other. It was the first day of school in 6th grade. I foolishly wanted to live in solitude for the next three years, until the smiliest person I’d ever encountered came up to me. She asked for a pencil, and just stuck around. I invited her to sit with me in class, afterward somehow she ended up everywhere I went. Over the course of a blurry year, we managed to always be seen together.
That summer, she was the person I had my first sleepover with. I had shared things I never have before, and she was the first and only person that has completely understood where I was coming from. She understood me in a way I thought no one would. She’s always let me feel in a way that I felt safe, and not feel the need to restrain. She’d let me heal with time and give advice that honestly helped me become more emotionally mature and properly process and recover from situations. This is when I began to notice and acknowledge that she was truly my one and only best friend.
Besides all the heavy stuff, she’s also the person I can share a laugh with. There’s an abundance of familiar phrases we still giggle about no matter how long ago the situation’s been. She’s been to my house so many times I can’t even count, to the point my family recognized her as our own.
Despite all our disagreements, and all the times we’ve frustrated each other, we’ve always been able to find our way back. No matter how many times we stop talking, or if she grows past me, I’ll always think of her as someone who is closest to me. Every day I notice her in the little things. Things like the song I dedicated to her during a time we became estranged: White Ferrari, by Frank Ocean. Or a place I’ve gone with her, even if it’s something tangible I think she’d like; she’s become such a constant in my life and has utterly infiltrated my daily routine. There’s not a day a thought doesn’t cross my mind to text her.
All in all, I’m unimaginably grateful for my best friend. I hope to be half as caring as she is, and that she understands how much she does for me. I wish she could comprehend how much I love and value her. She’s breathtakingly beautiful inside and out and I pray one day she’ll see it in herself too.
Happy birthday, Tori. I hope the years treat you well, because you deserve nothing short of the world.
Jade Ocampo – Trinity High School – DMSF Class of 2030
Photo Credit: Veronica Bocanegra