In the summer of 2005, in Soap Lake, Washington, I met Kaylyn Bossert.

I was fifteen, she was sixteen. She was dating my friend Collin, but I hadn’t met her yet, because she was from the next town over, another tiny town called Ephrata. We were at Collin’s house one summer night, chilling in his backyard. The sun had gone down, so we were jumping on his trampoline under the stars, hanging in a hammock under the stars, laying on the grass under the stars. It was so dark out in his huge back yard, so we found each other by voices.

Someone brought her over to finally meet me, and when she shook my hand I heard a voice so warm, and deeply kind say to me, “Hi, I’m Kaylyn.” Her voice just dripped with love in a way I had never experienced before.

I started going to her youth group at Ephrata Foursquare Church, and it was the best time of my life, finally having Christian teenagers around me as friends. Living in Soap Lake, population of approximately 1,000, meant that we had no youth group at my church.

While she was still in the stage of my life of being “Collin’s girlfriend,” I remember one night she stopped me after youth group, and said to me in the sweetest, most earnest voice, “Leslie, when we get to heaven and we’re worshiping Jesus, can I stand next to you?” I was so taken aback by her boldness and by her absoluteness about the imminence of heaven. I said yes. After all, who asks that kind of a question? I couldn’t say no.

And so that night, while everyone else around us just talked and laughed, we knelt together on the floor of EFC, in the aisle between some chairs, and she clutched my hands strongly in hers, and we just prayed together, sealing the moment. I’ll never forget it.

The last two weeks have brought me a new kind of pain that I have never experienced before, because two Thursdays ago I learned that my special friend KK had suddenly died in a car crash. She was 29 years old. I’m so glad that I got to see her on my birthday when I was in Moses Lake for Christmas. She was the happiest she had ever been. We talked about her finally fulfilling her dream of coming to Ireland to visit me, and she said she might come for my graduation next month.

KK was an absolute treasure. She was my oldest and dearest friend, and even though we’d go sometimes years without talking, we still had such a strong and deep bond. Every time we talked, she would ask me, “What is Jesus teaching you?” She always got right to the heart of what really matters in life. She truly taught me so much.

Her friendship was a gift, and I am so grateful I was able to call her my friend, the sister of my soul. And now I know she is saving me a space next to her in heaven.

I miss you, KK. I will see you again.