To Erica, who loves Tim Tebow

She's a few years older than me, but after 2010 I decided not to count. When I first met her, she was the closest person I knew to someone famous because of the combination of her middle and last name.

I met Erica in the middle of my emotional hailstorm, and she adopted me as her sister the night we sang arm in arm in that gazebo under the stars.

There are some friendships that slowly trickle into your life, and others that announce themselves like the 4th of July.

Erica's is the firecracker kind.

She relentlessly carries broken hearts and fading spirits into her light, giving of herself completely.

We sat cross legged at camp on a bottom bunk the night she accepted my secret like she has with so many before and since. I knew in that moment I would love her forever, and recognized the electricity you feel when you meet someone who quietly changes the world.