The friends we used to meet with every morning at the “spot” in middle school or high school. The friends we used to do regular routines with such as grab breakfast or buy coffee, or go against the regular norms and skip classes or go shopping after school. The friends we vented to, only because we didn’t want to deal with our own problems. The friends we used to laugh with about anything. The friends we used to do everything with.

Used to, because time has passed. Some stayed, while many others left.

How many are still around?

We may see them once in a while in Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat. Yet, many of us no longer keep up a conversation. Many of us no longer make the effort to converse with one another. It’s because our situations changed. Most of us are now in college, working to pay the bills, traveling the world, partying it up with new friends, or doing our own things.

In every milestone in our life, there will be people who will come and go, while there are those who remain. It’s a mutual process of deciding whether or not both should move on to the next stage. The only difficult piece of that situation is how to stay connected with these people.

People might have fallen out, got caught up in moments such as college or work, say they simply just grew up, or continue to go on with lives with unresolved issues.

They say “people change”, yet so does time. Try looking at it at a different perspective, maybe people do not change; maybe as time went on, only then did they start to show their true colors – the real them.

Maybe people don’t change, instead situations just escalate, which leads to an outcome of detached relationships.

Nonetheless, I thank the friends-that-used-to-be for the memories. I thank the friends-that-used-to-be for the lessons learned and for the endless laughters. Without you, I would not be where I am today. Without you, I would not be the person I am right now.

Thank you for being there when no one else was. Thank you for helping me get out of bed and see the world after a bad situation.

It’s been years since I graduated from high school. I can only count a few that stayed in my life, a few that made the effort to keep the friendship, a few I can still update my every day lives to, and a few who stayed true to me despite the talks behind backs.

This is life. People will walk in and walk out. Some will remain.

Though, it is still important to reconnect with old friends.

Here's to the friends we used to have!