Do you have people who you use to be very close to and now are not? You grow apart, develop different lives, and move afar. Some friends you still talk to all the time, others you let be fond memories of another time and yet there are those people in between. You barely talk (or message), have no idea of what is going on in their lives other than big news posted on social media. Sure you are invited to their wedding, send holiday messages of cheer and presents for a birth but you don’t really know their thoughts or feelings anymore. When you do get to see them you feel like you have so much to say and very little to talk about. It is confusing. So you make small chit chat, ask the standard how’s life questions but you leave the conversation feeling like something was missing, something you are not sure how to describe, like there is a gap you are not bridging. I want to start bridging that gap, start saying all those silenced emotions, left by the wayside for fear of being too intense, unreciprocated, overly emotional or just lame. But those people who meant so much in the past need to know that they mattered, I need them to know that they mattered and still do. So that gap, those feelings they sum up to this; I Love You. Not in a romantic way, almost like family but different. You were there for me when I needed it, even when I didn’t know I needed it. I was there for you in your dark hours, in times of joy and mischief. We shared an understanding that I cannot explain. We gave advice freely, truthfully and without malice. When we argued and fought it was never to hurt but to challenge, to spar because we respected each other’s strength. Of course I could be reading too much in to our friendship. You might not feel the same. But I think telling people how I feel about them is how we develop close friendships. So I am going to take the risk and let you know how I feel, hopefully it will brighten your day and if you think I am weird by the end of it that is fine, weird is why I became friends with you in the first place.