Every once in a while, someone walks into your life, and you just know they were supposed to be there.
That's Rachel for me.
We met a couple of years ago because our kids went to school together. That's it. That's what brought us into each other's orbit.
But when I tell you this friendship was some kind of divine intervention, I mean it.
Rachel has a strong faith. Me? I'm not nearly as religious as she is. But I can still recognize when something feels a little too perfectly timed to be an accident.
Out of all the people we could have met, at all the different points in our lives, somehow our kids put us in the same place at the same time.
And we instantly clicked.
Call it God. Call it divine intervention. Call it whatever you want.
I just know Rachel didn't come into my life by coincidence.
She was supposed to be there.
And I'm really freaking glad she was.
So, let me brag about my bestie for a minute.
First of All, She's Pretty Fucking Amazing
Rachel is beautiful. She's intelligent. She's ridiculously hardworking.
She's been with the same company for more than 30 years, which honestly blows my mind because I'm over here reinventing my entire life every six business days.
But that's Rachel.
She's loyal.
She's committed.
She's dependable.
And that loyalty doesn't stop at work. It's just who she is.
She's an incredible wife and an amazing mother. She's the kind of person who shows up. If she loves you, she loves you completely.
And somehow, I got lucky enough to be one of those people.
We Just… Clicked
Have you ever met someone and skipped the awkward getting-to-know-you phase?
That's what happened with us.
We started talking and it was basically:
Wait. You do that too?
You watch that?!
OMG YES.
Wait until I tell you what my husband did…
And suddenly we'd been talking for three hours.
Movies. TV shows. Food. Recipes. Life hacks. Kids. Marriage. Work. Life.
Complaining about our husbands. Obviously.
Every time Rachel would say something, I would think, YES. EXACTLY.
And she'd do the same with me.
There wasn't this feeling of having to impress each other.
I didn't have to pretend I had my shit together.
She didn't either.
We could just be ourselves.
And maybe that's one of the greatest gifts you can get from another person.
The ability to be completely yourself and know they're staying anyway.
She Knows the Real Version of Me
Rachel listens to me vent.
And I mean vent.
The irrational venting.
The angry venting.
The I know I'm probably overreacting but just let me have this for five minutes venting.
And I do the same for her.
Sometimes we solve absolutely nothing.
We just say, Yep. That's bullshit.
And honestly?
Sometimes that's exactly what you need.
We laugh until we cry.
We cry when we need to.
We complain.
We celebrate.
We talk about serious things and completely ridiculous things, sometimes within the same 30 seconds.
And there's no judgment.
I don't have to edit myself with her.
I don't have to wonder if something I tell her is going to change how she sees me.
I don't have to explain every little piece of the story because half the time she already knows what I'm going to say.
That's a different kind of friendship.
She's Part of My Morning
We talk almost every morning while she's driving to work.
It's just what we do.
And if for some reason we don't talk?
My entire day feels weird.
Like I forgot something.
She's one of the first people I want to call when something exciting happens.
She's also one of the first people I want when everything has gone to shit.
Good news?
Call Rachel.
Bad news?
Call Rachel.
Something hilarious happened?
Rachel needs to know immediately.
My husband did something annoying?
Oh, Rachel is definitely getting that phone call.
She's become woven into the everyday parts of my life.
And I think those are sometimes the friendships that matter the most.
Not just the person who shows up for the huge moments.
The person who is there for all the ordinary ones too.
And Then There's Wispy
I have to include this because it tells you everything you need to know about her.
Rachel didn't want a pet.
Her son brought home a cat.
And guess whose cat it is now?
Rachel's.
Little Wispy has completely taken over.
The woman who didn't want a pet now loves that damn cat.
Because, again, that's Rachel.
She loves big.
Even when she didn't exactly plan on loving you in the first place.
Apparently Wispy and I have that in common.
Find the Women Who Show Up
Rachel is the person who will go above and beyond to help someone.
If you're in a bad situation and there's something she can do to help get you out of it, she's going to try.
She's kind without needing everyone to know she's kind.
She's loyal without keeping score.
She's there without making you feel like you owe her something for being there.
And as I've gotten older, I've realized how incredibly rare that is.
We talk so much about romantic soulmates.
But I think we forget about the other ones.
The women who become our soul sisters.
The ones who walk into our lives and somehow feel like they've always been there.
The ones who know our stories, our families, our bullshit, our fears, our dreams, our bad habits, and the things that make us laugh so hard we can't breathe.
The ones we can call when we're falling apart—and when something amazing happens and we need someone who's going to be genuinely excited for us.
The ones who don't compete with us.
Don't judge us.
Don't secretly root against us.
They just love us.
So… That's My Best Friend
I don't know exactly what made our kids end up at the same school.
I don't know what made our paths cross when they did.
And I don't know why some people come into your life and instantly feel like home.
But I know this:
Rachel was supposed to be part of my life.
There are some friendships you have for a season.
Some fade.
Some change.
And then every once in a while, you find the person you just know is going to be sitting next to you when you're 80, still complaining about your husbands and probably repeating the same stories you've already told each other 400 times.
That's us.
She's my bestie.
My morning phone call.
My safe place to vent.
My biggest cheerleader.
My partner in complaining, laughing, crying, recipes, life hacks, and everything in between.
My soul sister.
I couldn't love her more if I tried.
And out of all the random ways life could have gone, I'm just really fucking grateful that somehow, it gave me Rachel.
Some people come into your life by chance.
She’s proof that sometimes the best people in your life show up a little later—and then you can’t remember what life felt like without them. I don’t know what I did to deserve a Rachel, but I’m keeping her. Sorry, everyone else.