When we met.

Strep throat.

Thats who I have to thank for my best friend.

Picture this: lil' pale blonde girl steps into the doorway of a colorful Pre-k classroom, filled with screaming kids and friends.

She doesn't pay attention as the teacher explains all that she's missed the first three days of school.

She glanced around the room, her eyes flitting from one person to the next.

A little boy yanks a toy truck off a shelf, shouting at his friends.

Another child makes little noises at the class guinea pig, his friend next to him laughing, doing the Same.

A girl bossily instructs another on the proper way to swaddle a babydoll.

A little boy with blonde hair chases a girl around the classroom, both giggling uncontrollably.

Her eyes finally settle on one girl in particular. She's sitting alone at a table, a mound of play-dog shaped like a bunny rabbit in her hands, her curly auburn hair hanging in her face, her hazel eyes trained attentively on her creation.

The little girl who has missed many friendships formed has found maybe the last child without a friend. She has heard from her brothers many times about the dangers of not finding a friend by the first week. She confidently strutted over to the lonely girl, hunched over the table. She plops herself down and with the tone of the confidence of a thousand queens, she states, "I'm Alli. Are we best friends now?"