Rachel Reeves was my first best friend, in that she was the first person, chronologically, whom I ever called my best friend, but also in that she was, in the social taxonomy of girlhood, primary: the best friend that came before the second and third best friends, before the church best friends, before the school best friends; not a cousin or a neighbor or a playmate, but a soul at the center of the complex, interlocking, concentric rings of childhood intimacy and belonging.
Old Friends....yes, sometimes we choose our family. It might just be a bit better that way, yes?