Most little girls have a best friend growing up. Sure, they have other friends, but none that quite compare to their one and only best friend. Do you remember your childhood best friend? Mine was Ava. She lived just three doors down from my house and we became friends from the day she moved onto our street. It wasn't until a couple of months later, however, that we became best friends. I remember the day we stepped up our friendship from 'friends' to 'best friends' because it was the day we exchanged charm bracelets with each other.

Our charm bracelets were the symbol to us and to all of our other friends that we were two of a kind. We still liked to play with other kids in the neighborhood, but it would always be Ava and I that ate dinner at each others houses or spent the night together on Fridays. Every night before we parted ways we planned where to meet the next morning. Our days were filled with hour after hour of exploring, playing house, playing with dolls, and having kickball games with our other friends. The summer Ava moved to my neighborhood and we became best friends we saw each other every single day.

Our charm bracelets were great because they kept us connected even when we could not spend every hour of every day together. At school that fall Ava and I were put in separate classes so we could only see each other at lunch time and on the playground. One the first day of school Ava and I exchanged one of the charms on our charm bracelets to that we could remember each other throughout the day.

When my family and I left to vacation in California later that year I said goodbye to Ava on her front porch. I promised that I would bring her back something special for our charm bracelets. For some reason, that promise was enough to make the ten days we were apart - the longest we'd been separated since we became best friends - more bearable. As soon as I returned from the trip, I rushed over to her house and gave her the special charm I had chosen to make our best friend charm bracelets even more full.

In the years that followed, Ava and I filled our charm bracelets with so many new charms that there came a day when our charm bracelets wouldn't fit anything new on them. It was a sad day the day we filled our charm bracelets. It was an even sadder day when Ava's family moved far from mine right after we graduated high school. We separated with the promise to wear our charm bracelets every day until we met again.

And though I haven't seen Ava since the day she moved and the charm bracelets we shared quickly became a thing of the past, I think every kid should have a best friend and the

charm bracelets to prove it.