Four and a half years ago, the summer before freshman year, I leaned over to the girl standing next to me at band practice and asked her if she noticed that our drum major sometimes looked like he was shooting lasers out of his eyes because he conducted so intensely. She laughed and said it kinda did. He started to conduct again and we both burst out laughing. Our section leader shot us a dirty look and told us to be quiet. After practice was over, I introduced myself.

Her name was Sarah Aboud. We clicked instantly.

Seated front row at the Cy-Fair High School football game, freshmen flute players Sarah Aboud and Emily Schulte pause for a quick picture for the band mom chaperone. (ALSO can we take a moment of silence in respect for the fact that I look like an a… — Seated front row at the Cy-Fair High School football game, freshmen flute players Sarah Aboud and Emily Schulte pause for a quick picture for the band mom chaperone. (ALSO can we take a moment of silence in respect for the fact that I look like an actual egg I mean come on look at my cheeks and my fivehead)

From Day 1, we were inseparable. Freshman year was a blur of inside jokes, sleepovers that contained very little sleeping and a lot of me destroying her in Monopoly, countless nights spent in the hot tub talking about book plots, zombie apocalypses, and boys. Way too many hours were spent sitting in her game-room, alternating between shoving cheese enchiladas into our mouth and playing Left 4 Dead on the Xbox. By the time summer rolled around, it felt like we had already been friends for a lifetime.

Taken in the legendary hot tub at Sarah's house: the birthplace of about a hundred book plots, contemplations over the meaning of life, future life plans, and a ton of mosquito bites.

The next four and a half years would not be very different. (Except for the fact that even to this day she refuses to play Monopoly with me...whoops) If anything, our conversations only got deeper and weirder, the details of our text messages got more explicit, and our friendship grew rapidly and strongly. One of the things we learned very quickly is that we both loved to travel and adventure, so we took to planning a whole list of trips that her and I are still working on crossing off. (Soooo Paris next year or...?)

On the beach in Tampa. We might be smiling, but being the shy sixteen year olds we were at the time, we were actually terrified to ask a stranger to take our picture.

The summer after Sophomore year, Sarah and I embarked on our first of many big journeys together. Being the angsty 15 year olds that we were, we developed a strong liking for bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco. That year, Fall Out Boy and Paramore were doing a collaborative tour and needless to say we were PSYCHED...until we realized that the Houston show was a day that we, naturally, had band practice. We couldn't go because our band director is a great pal and doesn't really let you miss any practices, BUT Sarah's dad traveled a lot for work and he had all of these extra flyer miles and generously offered them up to me and Sarah to fly to Tampa, Florida to attend the concert there (With him as a chaperone in the hotel room next to us of course). Well I chimed in with a Sarah what the heck are you serious omg lets freaking GO.

After countless trips together (you'll read about those later), one of the few things that hasn't changed is the amount of planning that we put into whatever we do and the lengths we will go to hype our trip up to unhealthy heights. I have spirals filled with plans and packing lists that we have made over the years.

That was an amazing first trip together. We were both incredibly awkward about everything, especially going to the beach, but we made some fun memories like me freaking out on the airplane because I hate flying and us finally getting out of our comfort zone at the concert and head-banging to "Death Valley".

Us summiting Mary Jane. We were so, wait for it, high. Ha Ha Ha. (Taken roughly right after I fell off the ski lift)

During our Junior year of high school, our band (Marching band, not like an actual band-we are so not that cool) went on a trip to Colorado. Though this was not an exclusively Sarah/Emily trip, we still managed to make it ours. From drinking coffee and admiring the mountains, to taking an hour to lug all of our skiing equipment up to our lodge room before realizing that we were supposed to leave it all at the base of the mountain (Talk about a palm to the forehead moment), and overdressing so bad one day that we had to go back to our room and sit topless on our balcony because we were sweating so badly.

The summer after Junior year, my parents surprised me and my brother with a seven day family cruise to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Cozumel. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, my mom told us that we could each bring a friend. (Which at this point bringing anyone other than Sarah would have been considered a mortal sin) WOW, I wish you could have seen the look on her face when I couldn't hold it in any longer and told her while we were making butter tortillas in her kitchen one night. (which if you haven't tried, is actually a heavenly snack)

Sarah and I at the turtle farm in the Cayman Islands holding our turtle friend that we named Jakob, after our cute waiter that we shamelessly flirted with on the cruise

That week was a God's dream. In Cozumel we went scuba diving. (which, by the way, I found out is a horrible idea if you are claustrophobic) In the Cayman Islands we got to chill out with the stingrays, go to a turtle farm, and visit the town of Hell. Yeah, like there's actually a town there called Hell. Booooy when I say I felt at home :,) . In Jamaica we got to get on this ski lift type thing that took us over the rainforest canopy and up to this nifty little place high up in the mountains. From there we were able to zipline all the way down to the bottom. (The zipline course included a free fall drop, so if you want to hear a great video of me and Sarah screaming bloody murder, hit me up)

While we were on the lift, Sarah and I kept saying "Dude, we're in Jamaica. Dude, we're like in another country. Dude, I cannot believe we are actually doing this right now holy heck."

Just two gal pals hanging out in Hell...you told us to go, so here we are ;)

During one of the formal nights on the cruise, the photographer thought that Sarah and I were a couple so we posed for some fitting shots ft. us in a tender embrace

Yes, we left the country and went to all of these exotic places, but my favorite memory from that trip was surprisingly enough not in any of those countries. It was the last night on the ship. Me, Sarah, my brother, his friend, and my parents all went for a walk around the ship at night just to take it all in one last time and we came across the helicopter pad at the back (front?) of the ship. We all decided to lay down and look up at the stars. There had to be about 20 people laying out. I just remember looking up and being blown away by how well you could see the stars when you're in the middle of the ocean and there isn't any city light to drown them out. They seemed to multiply as the hours went by and Sarah and I just laid there talking about life and counting the shooting stars that came by.

Without a doubt, one of my favorite nights of being alive.

Second semester of senior year, Sarah took me up to this ranch house in Wimberley with her family. You guys, this place was beautiful. The guy who owned it was bankin' because the property and the house were incredible. There was this giant back porch on top of the hill where we spent most of our time drinking coffee, watching a storm roll in, and talking (and also one night huddled together in fear because we heard hogs a little ways away). That was also one of the first trips where we had some real freedoms. Since she had her car up there, we went on a ton of drives into the hill country by ourselves and then drove to San Marcos to shop and hang out by the river.

This was taken from the porch on the back of the ranch house in Wimberley while a huge storm was rolling in (yet another dramatic looking picture of us)

Descending the rock of enchantment, pausing to pick up some flowers because apparently picking up rocks is against the park rules

As a graduation gift, my parents paid for me and Sarah to stay in this little Bed & Breakfast above an Amish furniture store on Main Street in Fredericksburg, TX. Since my parents are dedicated to living in Fredericksburg at some point and since they look for any chance to go there, they paid to stay in the room a few doors down to give us our privacy. We spent the entire weekend by ourselves, shopping on Main Street, taking tons of late night walks with our pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, checking out new restaurants, and going on a few drives into the hill country. The Saturday we spent there, we drove up to Enchanted Rock to go for a hike and ended up having to pause a few times because we were so embarrassingly out of shape (and you know, it's not that big of a rock so it was a pretty humbling experience when there is a 60 year old woman passing you up).

I want to elaborate more on all of these trips because each one was so jam-packed with new inside jokes and amazing memories, but space and your attention span are both limited. What i'm getting at is that these were some of the best trips ever. Something about experiencing new places with your best friend is just...the absolute best.

So yes, Sarah and I have gone on a lot of trips together, but we have also gone on so many hometown adventures. We have our typical hangouts in Cypress like the legendary Dunkin' Donuts parking lot on Spring Cypress and a few coffeeshops in the areas. And there are always our trips to downtown Houston to museum hop, our random drive down to Galveston at 4 AM to watch the sunrise from the back of Sarah's car, a ton of concerts, driving to Austin just to almost die on 6th street, and all the other mini-cations in between.

Our senior prom...isn't she like the most beautiful thing ever?

The amount of love I have for this girl is unreal. We know each other in and out. I know that she pluralizes random nouns and she knows that I hate when people walk on the left side of me. We have conversations that range anywhere from deep to weird to relatively normal to wildly inappropriate. Nothing is off limits. There's never an awkward silence or fear of judgement. It's the most comfortable relationship of any kind I have ever been in.

A lot has changed in the time that we've been friends. We've learned how to hug each other without one of us saying it feels weird (Anyone else know what I'm talking about? Like when you hug someone for the first time and it feels strange because like ya'll's bodies are like who dis who is touching me? No? Just me? Okay never mind lets move on) , We've learned about all the tough things we are each dealing with, and we've helped each other through some really difficult stuff over the years.

We are still consistently mistaken for sisters (Despite the fact that she is short, tan, and has brown hair and I am tall, pale as heck, and have blonde hair??) and still mistaken as a couple as well? Which, by the way, if you didn't know or if you were wondering- we are not dating. We are both very straight individuals. We just really love each other...and sometimes joke about us dating too much. (Sorry mom, I know you think my instagram captions can be inappropriate)

Am I hugging her? Do I have her in a headlock? Is she being held against her will? The world may never know.

Before I met Sarah I thought I knew what it was like to have a best friend. I was so unmistakably wrong. I feel like best friend doesn't even cover it? Like that title is thrown around so casually now that it just doesn't suffice. She is smart, beautiful, and the kindest person I have ever known. (Not to mention an incredible artist. I am constantly begging her to paint me things to hang in my room and dorm. You guys, she's SO talented) She has stuck by me through everything and I can't say that about a lot of people. I can be a really angry and irritable person and she in a lot of ways balances me out. She really is like a ray of sunshine in my life and I feel truly #blessed when I'm with her.

Our senior year band banquet, we decided to recreate the pictures we took before our freshman year band banquet...these were cringe worthy for sure.

This was taken by my dear mother when Sarah and I first saw each other after graduation. Thankfully, you can't see the fact that we are totally crying in this.

So in the end, the reason for this lengthy and emotional post is because today Sarah turns nineteen. This is the first birthday since Freshman year that that I'm not spending with her because of college. In plain terms, I am sad and I wish I was there to smash her face into a cake or something.

So...Happy birthday, Sarag. (This is the most common spelling error I make when texting her because the g and the h are so close together on the keyboard) Thank you for all the 3 AM trips to iHOP, spontaneous trips to places to watch the sunrise, the T-Swift jam sessions, and always being down to rap "Only" by Nicki Minaj with me. You're my #1 bro.

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Here's to all the adventures we've had and all the ones we're going to have.

Here's to you being an absolutely beautiful soul. I love you, man.

(and no, Sarah, I didn't forget- YOU'RE MY BEST FRAAAAAAND!)

#LIVERSHAPES4LIFE #LASEREYES

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