We've told this story over and over and it never gets old. We became eachother's first friends on the second day of kindergarten. Rachel walked up to me and asked, "Do you want to be friends?" I said yes. Boom. Besties.

We matched for Twin Day because naturally we thought looking identical in Old Navy Graphic Dog Tees and corduroy ankle-length skirts was the pinnacle of cool. We accumulated inside jokes that somehow stayed funny for over twenty years even when we forgot the punchline. We tried out for the talent show singing High School Musical and they felt so bad for our pitchy singing that they subtly asked us to be MCs.... We coded our first MySpace pages and lived at Sea Wolrd (A choice we would later feel immense guilt over when Blackfish came out). We had laugh inducing sleepovers and prank wars. We bonded over emo music in our teen years and never stopped listening. To this day when I miss her I throw on some All Time Low or Pierce the Veil. 

Rachel (Also known as Jones, Boo, or Jamba by various loved ones) had the incredible ability to make everyone feel special. She never forgot anyone's birthday, and managed to make you feel like the most important person in the world simply because you existed. She always remembered your favorite things and paid attention to all of the little details that made you you, celebrating them always. And she was so, so freaking funny. No one has mastered biting sarcasm and wit the way she did!

She was simply the best. She is deeply, deeply missed. 

So, for the little girl who asked, "Do you want to be friends?" and the woman who never stopped showing up for the people she loved, never stopped trying to make the world a better place, and for every friendship that deserves more time... we're showing up in her memory year after year. Thank you for supporting a cause that meant the world to her and everyone who loves her!