The Realist Disguised as an Idealist.

Meet Mariana. Our birthday girl.

I've known her for a little more than two years now &yet I feel like we've been friends since the minute I was born. She gets me - completely. She's made such a huge impact in my life in these two short years. We're absolute opposites, yet it works.

I love the way her mind works: zoning out, making objective decisions, acting fully as oneself without any regards to other people's judgments. The latter is most respectable, most admirable, &rarely embodied by anyone. Except Mariana.

We could go months without contact with one another &yet, we're back to where we were. We could spend every single minute of every day with each other & not get too sick of each other. We know how to work around each other &with each other. It is incredible rare to find a friend like her. That's why I'm happy she's even okay with having me in her life. It's a blessing to know her in &of itself. That's why I'm happy to call her a best friend &a sister.

She deserves the world. Her mind is one that one must take a journey to explore. She's amazing, funny, classic, inimitable, outstandingly unique &a great friend to have. I just hope that one day soon she'll be able to see what I see - a beautiful 20-year-old young woman who's ready to give the world a run for its money.

Happy birthday, beautiful.