I never thought this day would come. Although I'm proud of all of my friends' and my own accomplishments, I can't say that I'm not completely heartbroken leaving this amazing university filled with even more amazing people. I'm forever grateful that I had so many people to help shape my life and make me the person that I am today. Finding myself through different friendships has given me a learning experience that I could've never received through any class or book.

People always told me to not take my college years for granted, but I really didn't think it'd go by this fast. I'm not going to be able to sit on the couch and binge watch "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" with my roommates or drop what I'm doing to go on an impromptu hike in Hocking Hills. There was something really comforting knowing that my friends were always less than 30 feet away from me. Of course, I know we will see each other again, but nothing will ever top experiencing college together.

Maybe the most difficult part about this new chapter is about the uncertainty of where our friendships will go (and surprisingly not the uncertainty of my very shaky future). I can't imagine my life without the people I met at OU and it's hard for me to process that in reality, I might not keep in touch with every single person. Despite the difficulty, I sincerely hope that I maintain these relationships, and hope they want the same. The friends I met here have celebrated accomplishments together, commiserated our defeat, and picked each other up off the ground (metaphorically and literally). I have faith that we will be there for each other in the future, too.

It's only been a few days since graduation and I'm still exhausted from the amount of crying I did while saying goodbye to my friends. I sobbed the ugliest sobs, because I'm going to miss my bobcat family more than I ever thought I could miss a human being. The concept of leaving people is scary, but the concept of leaving "my people" is even scarier. The only thing getting me through this goodbye is the excitement of watching my brilliant friends further their successes in life (and that I will see them at homecoming).