To the college "friends" who've left me behind,

Thank you.

Based on the headline of this article, I'm sure some of you are expecting to read some angry, bitter letter to my friends who graduated before I did and have not kept in contact with me since they've left. But that's not entirely the case right here. This is a letter that's meant to express my gratitude to you for all of the things that you've done for me.

Thank you for choosing to spend some of your college years, which are supposedly some of the "best years of your life," interacting with me. There were literally thousands of other people around that you could have befriended and shared your time with, yet for some reason you chose to spend it with me. Whether or not those times were particularly great for you, they have been a few of the highlights of my college years.

Thank you for helping me to realize a few things about how to function and operate with others in social settings. College friends are friends who help us develop and prepare our social skills for the future, and you all are no exception. You've helped me perfect my skills in hiding my own problems in favour of listening to yours. You've also helped me perfect my skills in minimizing my own problems when they get brought out in the open. You've helped me to optimize my ability to stand back and let others have the spotlight, even if I probably deserve it more. Thank you for showing me just how narcissistic people can be if they're able to be. Thank you for teaching me to be a bit choosier about the people that I spend time with in the future.

While some of my college "friends" have not been the best friends to have, they have clearly given me some experiences that will be necessary for the future. My good friends taught me how to find good people to befriend, as well as how to keep them. The "friends" who treated me less than ideally by using my friendship to their advantage whenever it suited them taught me how to avoid people like them. However, despite their unfair treatment of me, I still can't help but thank my so-called "friends" for helping ensure that I was not completely alone throughout my early college years.

So thank you for taking the time during your lives to be friends with me. Whether or not we don't talk much now, if we even do at all, please know that you are going forward with your lives with my support behind you, no matter how you treated me in the past Even though I may be a little bitter and upset toward some of you, I did at one point consider you my friend.

With all my best wishes,

~Makenzee