TEXARKANA MAGAZINE
She’s married now to my king, Kolten, and it’s wild to see how far she has come. I have watched her love deeply, lose bravely, and rebuild her life with grace. She’s organized to her core. She’s the one who makes the itinerary, the reservations, the color-coded spreadsheet. It’s the teacher in her. But she also loves the hardest. She shows up every single time, no matter how messy or inconvenient. Ten years later, through all the crazy and messy I have put her through, she’s still right there. If Texas had a heart, it would look like Maddie’s. She feels everything. Not in a loud, dramatic way, but in this quiet, empathetic way that’s so beautiful. You would never think it just having a casual conversation with her, but she’s the kind of person who will sense something’s wrong before you say it out loud. She doesn’t always wear her heart on her sleeve, but when you know her, you realize just how massive it is. Watching her with her boyfriend, her family, even her dog, you can see how deeply she feels. She’ll defend the people she loves to the death. She’ll carry your pain as if it’s her own. And she’ll still be the one cracking jokes to lighten the mood in the room five minutes later, because humor is our safe haven and escape. Alex is the wild one, the sunshine, the “say yes now, figure it out later” friend. She’s got an unshakable lust for life that makes everything feel bigger and more fun. She’s curious about everyone and everything and asks a thousand questions because her curiosity is love. When Alex asks about your day, she means it. She listens like you’re the most special person in the world, and that’s a rare gift that not everyone has. She’s the person I call when I have a ridiculous story that only she won’t judge me for (which is often). Thankfully, I know no matter what crazy things I am down to do, she’ll always say to me, “I’ll go with you.” No hesitation. Just joy. Somewhere along the way, our friendship became its own little universe. We have words that mean nothing to anyone but us, and a shared TikTok account. We have built a world that feels like home to us. A space where we can be our full, unfiltered selves and still be loved exactly as we are. That is what friendship is about to me.
GOOD EVENING TXK COLUMN BY BAILEY GRAVITT (L-R) Hannah McCoy, Maddie Horn, Bailey Gravitt, and Alex Ouellette
I f you would have told me at 18 that my life at 25 would revolve around a group chat called “KIP,” I probably would have assumed it was a financial planning firm? Or a bad 2000s boy band I was a part of? (I always wanted to be in a band.) Instead, it stands for “Keep It Professional,” which is hilariously ironic, because there is absolutely nothing “professional” about what goes on in that group chat. Just four best friends who somehow became family without realizing when it happened. Somewhere between Olive Garden dinners, group FaceTimes where we laughed so hard we cried, and planning 10,000 adventures, we built something rare, something that feels sacred.
Every fall, when the air turns crisp and candles start smelling like pumpkin spice and nostalgia, I think about how thankful I am for them. Life, at the end of the day, is really just about love. The kind that makes you feel seen. The kind that sits on the couch with you in silence when you can’t find the words. The kind that laughs until it hurts, and then asks where we are eating. That’s the love I have with my best friends Hannah, Maddie, and Alex. I’ve known Hannah for ten years now—an entire decade of chaos, growth, and memories, both good and bad. She’s like the little sister I never got to have, but with a degree. She was the first in her family to graduate college, and yes, I remind her every chance I get because that’s incredible.
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