My goodness, do I love my best friends.

I spend so much time being wary of so many people out there in the world- questioning their motives and their sincerity, mocking (sometimes unfairly) what they deem important. How lucky am I that I was able to find five other souls out there who I click with, who I would trust with everything I have?

I am amazed by you. Your honesty. Your resiliency. Your intelligence. Your passion. The way you'll eat Bugels in the back of my parents' cramped car or take a shot of whiskey with my father at my 21st birthday or listen to my mother's work problems. The fact that you slept in my bed with me for the entire weekend after my first real boyfriend broke up with me. The mixed CD's that you routinely burn for me for holidays and birthdays, and the videos of our teenage years that you've spent weeks compiling. The scolding you gave me when I failed to to call you with the latest boy news. The time we sat in a parking lot downtown the summer after we graduated college and cried together, overwhelmed at the scary futures that loomed before us and the tough decisions that we were each soon to make.

We are not catty with each other. We take joy in one another's achievements and commemorate the times we've spent together. There is no need for one of my beloved back-up plans with you guys.

In college, a friend called me a snob because I didn't grow close to everyone I met, and was picky about who I confided in. I was told that I favored certain people over others. And of course I did. You people are family to me. And maybe it does take a long time to become that sort of friend to me. Because once you're in, you're stuck with me, and because I can't imagine life without any of you. So many people struggle with maintaining connections after high school or college or the move to a new city, and I have been so incredibly fortunate that regardless of what states we all live in or careers we pursue, we are non-negotiable.

I really am best friends with some of the most top-notch people on the planet. I don't know how it worked out that way, but it did.