The evening I moved in to college here at St. Bonaventure, as fate would have it, I met one of the best girls to exist, when a nice shy girl sort of appeared behind me and asked if she could join the group I was with.
Obviously, I said yes, and to this day it is one of the least regrettable yes I’ve ever said. My life got the gift of Rachel Argo.
Rachel is so kind and understanding, an amazing person to talk to when you’re having a bad day, are sad about anything ever, or just want to rant about even the silliest things. She really listens to what you are talking about. She doesn’t make it about her or brush past it. She just gets you. She gets me. She always reaches out to me when she knows there’s something going on, and always asks me how I’m doing even days after. She cares like that. Her simple “How are you feeling?” makes me feel better in an instant.
Rachel is hilarious. She makes me laugh like no other and matches my humor. We have spent many nights sitting on the floor of my dorm literally screaming from laughing so hard. Our Tik Tok messages are filled to the brim with the most out of pocket videos you could ever see, and our inside jokes could probably fuel the world of comedy forever.
She’s always up for anything. We have a history of many shopping trips, spontaneous 3 a.m. visits to the random grotto on campus, going to NYC together, eating almost every meal together and have even driven 2 hours to watch my boyfriend in a swim meet. When I want to go do something, on or off campus, I always text her to see if she wants to go.
I love when she comes to my room before class so I can braid her hair, when she sleeps on my floor, or when she FaceTimes me to tell me something crazy she knows I am going to want to hear right away. I love when we act like we are fighting or hate each other when that could not be further from the truth. I love looking up from all of my hard work at the library and seeing her across from me working just as hard. I love giving her advice and receiving hers. I love everything about being with her.
She’s super shy, but I need you all to know she is one of the most talented people I have ever met. Think of a sport or activity and she has done it. Swimming? Yes. Any instrument ever? Yes. Archery!? Yes. And so on.. every few weeks she just randomly drops some more ‘Rachel lore’ and I learn she is like a black belt in karate or something crazy like that. She is so humble and never talks about herself, so here I am BRAGGING ABOUT HOW COOL SHE IS! I’m waiting for her to tell me she’s like an undercover princess or superhero or something.
We talk for hours. We talk about the shows we love, the books we read, the people we like, the people we don’t like, our dreams in life, and even find ourselves having conversations that make absolutely no sense or we won’t ever remember again.
We’ve seen each other cry, borderline pee our pants, puke, and all the feats of college life as adult girls together. I think of “we were girls together” and think of Rachel, even though it’s been less than 5 months.
Rachel is always apologizing for everything because she is genuinely the most selfless person I have ever met. I will forever be okay with telling her she has no need to apologize because she really just doesn’t realize how awesome she is. She’s never inconvenienced me or done me wrong once, and yet she apologizes more than the people who HAVE inconvenienced me or done me wrong.
I love Rachel. So much.
Rachel’s leaving. She’s transferring to University at Buffalo. She’s following her dreams and majoring in what she wants to since our school doesn’t have it. I am so happy for her, but I am literally in shambles thinking about not being with her everyday.
Rachel is the kind of girl who is just irreplaceable.
Everyone is telling me there will be more best friends around. But there won’t be anymore Rachels.
Obviously we will keep in touch, and she will visit me as frequently as she can and vice versa, since we will only be an hour and half away, but still.
Rachel is going to do great things with her life. She is intelligent, strong willed, and independent. She’s the strongest person I have ever met, and watching her go through real struggle empowers me to get through mine better.
Everyone needs a Rachel. I know I need mine.
Rachel, I’m sure you’re reading this, since you are the greatest of friends and read my articles every week, so just know I love you. Sorry I lied about what I was going to be writing about and actually wrote about you. I’m proud of you. Let’s never stop being friends ever. Okay?
Written with love, and a large amount of tears.