Rachel; Rachie-pants-s; RaeRae; Satchel; Rolly; Machel

So I spent an hour or so today talking to Rachel in Sharkies about all these crazy things we did at our first sleepover. We laughed so hard we were crying. The time when we made potato people when we were 12 and then made them into hashbrowns.
"ESMERELDA!" and Bananagirl. It was pretty much the greatest thing ever. I never fully appreciate how much we've been through until
after these crazy conversations.
Today I also went over my testimony with Shawn and he'd stop me while I was reading and ask me questions until he got the core scary stuff.
At the bits about Rachel he stopped me and asked me WHY she was such a big part at that time in my life.
And it was like "because she's Rachel. She was my everything.I never felt whole without her." and then I realized how much she really DID help me when I needed her during the stuff with my mom. She cried when I told her my dad had run off again. I cried when she told me Roo had died. My emails from family always include "send Rachel our love" and I call her Grandma... Grandma. We've gotten lost in Metrotown. We've gotten lost a block away from my Oma's house. But at least we're always together for it all.
She has always been my first call. The one I call when something bad or good happens. The first person I wanted to see when Ben kissed me, the first person I needed to see when he dumped me.
And even though we've had a lot of fights and we drive eachother crazy half the time, we can still sit in a cafeteria crying about the time we almost blew up my oven and watched that retarded llama cartoon forever.
Alone it was lame, but together everything was amazing.

I love that girl so completely and I'd be dead without her.

...and my stories wouldn't be half as funny without her being a part of them