Kacie

This is the beginning draft of an essay I'm writing for College English but I thought I'd put it on here for Kace. I love you girl.
That is Us
Life is nothing without friendship, a lesson I have learned well and I am sure will continue to learn forever. Many friends have influenced my life but all in different ways. Kacie Richard is one of “my girls” as I like to call the trio I hang out with. Kace has taught me a lot in the way of friendship and life itself, that two people, no matter how different, can be friends; that friends are there when a shoulder is needed to cry on or when someone is needed to simply talk to or to vent our anger out on. She taught me that there is nothing in this world better than a good friend because they will never stop caring.
Kace and I are about as different as night and day in some ways, yet in other ways we are identical. Kacie is short, I am tall. She has long, light brown hair while I have straight-as-a-board, dark brown hair. Kace has grey-blue eyes, and mine are dark brown, though both of us have eyes that give away exactly what we are feeling inside. Both of us have days where we bounce off walls and days when we drudge around not wanting to be a part of the world. We both talk with our hands and hug people randomly. Blowing kisses is another tradition. We both can read each other like an open book. That is us.
Kace and I went to the same school since kindergarten but never really got to know each other until the beginning of my junior year of high school. We were both in art and both friends with Sammy. That’s how the whole thing started. We girls, Kacie, Sammy, Becca and I, began going out to eat fries at George’s at least once a week. We called ourselves the two-ranch club because we always got two ranch dressings with our fries. Over such a simple thing, fries, a great friendship was created.
There were quite a few times this summer when only Kacie and I could make it to fries due to work conflicts. I remember her always ordering a Sprite with French fries and me a Coke with French fries, with two ranch for both, of course. Tradition. Having fries with Kace is our time to just unload and talk. We can be loud and nobody cares, two girls sitting in the back corner booth at George’s giggling away. That is us. We can be completely open with each other because we know that we won’t judge each other. That is a really important part of our friendship.
That is one of the many lessons Kacie and my relationship has taught me. It is possible to have a friend willing to listen and not judge. I can remember one night when we stayed at her house talking, and talking, and talking some more. We both lay in her bed and spilled out everything about our futures, our pasts, who wanted to be, who we were afraid to be, where we wanted to go, places we had been, the people we had loved, the people we had hurt and those who hurt us. Kacie understands what I feel like and even when she doesn’t, she tries her best. She never says, “Mary that was stupid of you” when I do stupid things, she stands by me and helps me get through the mess I often cause because of the stupid thing I have done. That is Kacie.
Kacie is the type of friend who will run to the rescue when she is needed, not just a friend there when it’s convenient. There have been so many times when she can tell something is wrong and immediately she starts asking questions and figuring out how to help me. She is willing to rush to me when I am about to break down for some reason and can almost always keep me rational. When I’m inconsolable she knows I need a friend to talk to.
I remember one day this past fall when I thought something may have happened to Mike. Ten soldiers were killed in Iraq and everything, the location, time, job, and soldier's home bases matched up with Mike. I was so scared and broke down completely ten minutes before I had to be at work. I called Kacie and told her about everything. She called me back at work, relayed to me everything she had found on the story, said everything was going to be okay and asked me if I needed her to come into the restaurant. She would have been there in a heartbeat if I had asked her to, but I told her no. Always there for me, that is Kacie.
There were so many times last year that I don’t want to think about having lived through without Kacie. She has left for college in Aberdeen and it’s hard. Since she left there are times when something is happening and my first reaction is, “I want to tell Kacie.” Phones work but it’s not quite the same. I remember before she left, thinking that life was going to be different without her, and I was right.
Kacie is one person who I absolutely love. As far as friends go, she is one of the best I could ever ask for. She makes me realize things about myself and life and that I wouldn't have discovered if she hadn't been here for me. She makes me laugh, makes me cry, makes me know that I am cared for. The biggest things that Kace does though, is to be a friend through thick and thin. Somebody once told me that best friends are sisters that God forgot to give us. That's absolutely right, that is us.