Best friends are awesome. They are the best of the best. They are the people fortunate enough to see us at our best and our worst. Our best friends change over time, and that's okay.

Most of us have that one friend that we've known since birth. This friend is the one that you got to experience your first ever day of school and your first crush with. Your favorite memories of this person include: smiles with missing teeth, scraped up elbows, American Girl Dolls, playing pretend, and weekly sleepovers.

Friendships in elementary school were a little weird. Your friends changed some depending on if you were in the same class or not. These friends were the lucky people who got to see you in all your glory during those awkward fourth and fifth grade years. You begged to have sleepovers with them on school nights, were masters in the art of prank calling together, and stayed up late messaging them on Myspace/whispering over the landline.

Middle school is not a great experience for a lot of people. Nothing is very solid and friendships are really shaky during those three years. You can be best friends with someone one day and not even be speaking to each other the next. If you're fortunate enough, though, you will find at least one person you can really trust. Sometimes this middle school friend will turn into a lifelong friend.

In high school, people start to try and figure out who they want to be. People play different sports, go to parties, go to youth group, and take different classes. A lot of times, the people involved in the same things as you are the people who end up being your best friends throughout high school. These are the friends you'll make thousands of memories with, experience heartbreak with, and try to hang onto as you go separate ways after graduation.

College is a different world completely. All of a sudden, you aren't surrounded by the same friends you've grown up with. You are forced to quickly make new friends. You cling to the first people that you meet in hopes that they're semi-normal. You make fast friends, but the people that end up being your best friends normally aren't the same as your 'first month' friends. You meet your best friends in class, in the dorm, or maybe you meet them on a random Thursday night at some campus ministry. College friends are the ones who see you when you're crying and overwhelmed with school, they're there when you're homesick, and they become your home away from home.