A Herobook to my Best Friend - Callie Slusher and Grace Barton

I was always the girl who was friends with everyone but never had friends of her own. Coming to college I was determined for a change and to hopefully find my true friends. Lucky for me God put my hero in my path one of the first weeks of school at orientation. I continued on with my first couple of weeks settling into the dorms thinking only a little of the girl who I soon realized would be my very own hero. As if my hero and I needed to be reminded of each other I coincidentally met her again in my dance 101 class and then a few days later when we hugged after running home to our favorite place. Many of you know my hero and for those of you who don’t I hope that just the few of the reasons I tell you why she is my hero, encourages you to meet her. 

My hero holds my hand through dance lessons and no matter how bad I am at dancing she continues to dance with me. My hero has been through the ups and downs of the life that we have experienced in our time at college, her support never wavering. My hero is my constant that I used to lay awake at night and pray for as she is always there to be my shoulder to lean on, the smiling and comforting face I look for in every room I walk into. My hero listens to all my rambling about the books I’m reading and my endless wishes that my book boyfriends were real and somewhere out there. Instead of being annoyed she nods and says that  he is in fact out there somewhere and looking for me too. My hero never pushes me down when my type b personality sometimes gets the best of me. Instead she is patient and reminds me to stay on task and get done what needs to get done or that we needed to walk out the door 5 minutes ago. Either way my hero always mentions that she is proud of me just as I am of her. My hero is always there to pick me up when I fall—both literally and metaphorically—and if she’s not there to catch me, she’s usually right there with me, falling alongside me and somehow, *every single time*, ending up with a rolled ankle in the process. Regardless, my hero is always there. My hero has shown me what true friendship really means and that it is worth the wait.

 I could talk about my hero forever and thankfully even though I have not known her forever I am lucky enough to spend the rest of my life with my hero. My hero and I will start our careers together, be in each other's weddings, be aunts to our babies, and grow old together laughing about our endless memories we never fail to make. My hero is truly remarkable in every sense. I hope everyone finds their hero like I found my Gracie. I truly can not thank God enough for you Gracie Barton. Thank you for being exactly who you are and for being there for me, always. You are my hero.