To my friend: the Force will be with you. Always.

I don’t remember when we met. I don’t remember the first time we hung out at your house and watched The Big Lebowski. I don’t remember the first time we drove around aimlessly in your Jeep. Or your minivan. Or your Hummer. I don’t remember the first time we had Taco Bell or the first time we argued over bigfoot.

I don’t remember many of the details that defined our friendship, but it doesn’t matter. I remember you.

I remember your laugh. I remember your weird sayings and ridiculous movie quote knowledge. I remember your kindness and your sincerity. I remember your anxieties and your fears. I remember sharing my own anxieties and fears with you, and the way we turned to each other for support.

You won’t remember 2019. You won’t remember seeing me achieve my goals, or conquer my fears. And yet, you were there.

Now the year winds down and ’tis the season where traditions rule. Like clockwork the Best Friends Movie Club assembles for opening night. Star Wars, for the last time. It’s the end of the story, the conclusion of a saga. After this we’ll only have our memories to remind us and our memories to comfort us and our memories to torment us.

It’s been a year since you’ve left us, but it’s been a year that you’ve lived on in the memories of those you left behind.