I’m in the mood to tell you about my best friend. Her name is Andrijana.

We met in 9th grade. Me, an awkward teen with disgustingly large glasses (no photo provided). She was fresh off the boat from Serbia and barely spoke English. I was nice to her because she was a friend of a friend. But every day she’d ask me to help her with her locker combination. And I couldn’t understand her funny accent.

Fast forward a few years. Her English got better (her favorite word is still “dude.”) and she got kinda cool. We both loved art. She started sketching the bath houses in downtown Hot Springs. Naturally she turned out to be an architect. She’s the only person I know who at 16 knew what she wanted to do with her career.

Between her going to school in Fayetteville, me in Conway, then me moving to Florida, we haven’t gotten to spend as much time as we’d like over the years. So I have to say the best thing about being in Arkansas is that she’s an hour away.

Now we’re “middle aged” and have kids. It’s amazing to get to let our kids play together and laugh at how much they’re like their mommies. It’s wonderful to cry on her shoulder about my love life and get a very very real and honest opinion from her about everything.

I’ve been looking for a friend like her for years and have never found one. She’s one of a kind. She is, indeed, my kindred spirit.