to the best, best friend
martha,

365 days. 12 months. 52 weeks. 525,600 minutes. however one wants to put it, it's been a year. an entire year. it went by so quickly but there were parts of the past year that felt like they couldn't have been over soon enough. but they were parts that i wouldn't have been able to make it through without you. they say the thing about friends is that they are more fragile than family. because they are people that are choosing to be in your life, and may walk out of it at any time they want to for any reason that they choose, if they even have one. i hold my friends dear to me and i always have, and always will. hell, i'm still friends with some of my buddies from high school back in buffalo. there haven't been many people i have kept in my life over the years. i tend to keep to myself a lot, and keep my circle small. you know this about me. it's a way i have always been, and always will be.

i've had some great friends over the years. i've been extremely fortunate with the people that have come into my life and i know i say that a lot but i mean it, and i feel like i mean it a little more and more each time because i am constantly reminded of how blessed i am. the day you and i met, i never thought it would turn into a friendship that has been built on the strongest of foundations. i never knew that the conversation about small animals eating was the doorway to what would be the greatest friendship i have ever known. i never knew you were going to become a person that i leaned on for so much, would become my rock, my biggest fan, and my biggest supporter. it's weird how life works out in the weirdest of ways sometimes. you meet someone and you never know if that person is going to become a part of your life or is just someone in passing. i thank my lucky stars every day that you were brought into my lifeand our bond built as strong as it did at the perfect timing, because little did we know, i was going to need your help, guidance, and support only a few short months later.

you knew about me. before we even met, you knew a lot about my past and the mistakes i've made, and the situations i've put myself in. you never judged me for that, for which i can't thank you enough, because you're one of the few that have still always never had anything but good things to say about me. you don't find that too often; people that want to continue to build you up even when so many people have tried their damn hardest to terar you down. i knew there was something special about you when i realized that you were genuinely a kind person to me despite all the wrong doings. even though my investigation you never questioned me or doubted me. you had the unpopular opinion when it came down to that and you still never turned your back on me like so many people did. all of this added together just speaks volumes about your character and the type of person that you are, and i think more than anything else, i've always needed a person like you in my life. that positive presence that wasn't a family member or a team mate. someone that was just there because they wanted to be rather than needed to be.

i get really emotional about it sometimes, trying to figure out what i've done to deserve someone like you in my life. i try my best not to let my negative choices in the past get the best of me but between you and nina and all the incredible people i have surrounding me, i don't know how i manage to have this amazing life that i do. i never though i would meet someone like you, or that i would be able to call someone like you my best friend. whenever i have good news, you're the first person i want to tell. you're the first person i want to go to when i have a bad day. you really are just everything to me, and the fact that we have grown so close, and this friendship has gained strength over the last year, is something i will never take for granted.

i will always be here for you, no matter what. i don't care what ever happens in our lives, i will never let anything come between this friendship and bond that you and i share. thank you for always being you, because you are absolutely incredible, and anyone that has you in their life would agree, and i hope everyone knows how lucky they are.

love you, best friend. happy 1 year friendiversary.

patrick