My Best Friend KaraLee

KaraLee and I were born 16 months apart. People always thought we were twins especially when we were little. I never saw a twin-like resemblance. I had light curly hair and she had dark straight hair. My eyes were blueish green and hers were the most gorgeous golden brown you'd ever seen. When we grew up she was taller and thinner than me. Sometime I look at pictures and see a resemblance in our facial features; the way we smile, or the shape of our faces.

By the time I was 16 I had moved 14 different times in my life. We moved around a lot because of my Dad's job (surprisingly nothing to do with the military). Lots of people asked if this was hard on us as young kids but generally it was not. Yes, we left lots of friends and attended a number of different schools, but we were used to it. We learned to make new friends fast and easily. We made a lot of good friends all over and when it came time for us to move again we would always do it again.  Most importantly whenever it did come time to move we always knew we had each other.

To say we did everything together would be an understatement. When I think back at any memory of my childhood she is there. We had so many inside jokes. So many unique favorites that were ours. We shared a room for the majority of our lives. We shared toys when we were little and clothes when we were older. When we got to high school I was editor in chief of the yearbook my senior year and she joined as a staff member solely because I begged her to. We discussed everything; our hopes, dreams and fears.

When KaraLee died in 2010 I was devastated. There are other facts and losses associated with the car accident that took her life including the death of my father, but one of the biggest things I face is the loss of my best friend. I miss her so much! She was the only person on earth that understood me almost better than I do myself. How do you cope when that person that you trust and rely on most is suddenly gone. That's the whole trouble with grief I guess. Because her young life was cut short so suddenly I didn't get to say goodbye. However I am certainly blessed because I have no regrets. There was no question between us where we stood with each other. I don't mean to sound like we were angels to each other all the time. We had our sibling fights and arguments like everyone else. But when it comes to the way we felt about each other; we weren't just sisters, we weren't just friends. We were best friends that happened to be sisters. I feel so privileged to have had this special relationship with her, especially now that she is gone.