I used to be a mediocre friend, particularly in high school. Not that I deliberately disregarded my friends, but I didn't understand the full weight of their value. The importance of friendship changed one night junior year. Due to my own error in judgement and lack of consideration, I found myself without friends. Soon after that, I lost my romantic relationship as well and felt the weight of real isolation. People tell you things like boys will come and go but friends stay and that friends are the family you chose. Until you are without companionship, appreciating people can seem secondary.

I have learned friendship is the modern love letter. In a society that values time, a commodity more precious than ever before, our affections are expressed by our choice with whom we spend our time. Our generation has turned away from romantic love and poured themselves into the people around them, their makeshift family.

I grew up watching television and films that depicted what good friendship was: Sitting around someone's basement in the Midwest in the 70s. Supporting a sorority sister in her quest to get into Harvard and get her boyfriend back. Sending letters and a worn magical pair of jeans across land and sea. Maybe most iconic of all, a group of friends seen making sense of their adult lives while in the comfort of their local coffee shop. I grew wanting that, struggling to find people to share the trials and tribulations of life. Though I still hold those fairy-tale friendships in high regard, my definition of friendship has changed over the years.

Friendship is the magic that illuminates our lives during moments of personal darkness; friends are people brave enough to wade into our own self-doubts and questions of worth, and confront them. They are the voice of reason. They sit in the crowd cheering you on, taking in the quiet joy of being a part of your milestones, big and small. They take pride in your success before they would criticize for your weakness.

Most of all, real friends see your truth, those hideous parts of you, and they do not flinch. Instead, they show you their own scars to let you know you're not alone. Friends are birthday cards, borrowed clothes, drunken tears, and sober thoughts. Telepathic conversations and dramatic rants. Hushed secrets and hiding places. Unwarranted hugs and unexpected sing-alongs.

To my friends, you are better than any fictional story. The comfort and bliss that your presence constantly provides is my reality. Through uninhibited moments of laughter and crushing bouts of sadness, you have seen the cracks in my soul and stayed. I humbly thank those fateful coincidences that allowed us to spend our time on this earth as soulmates. More than my family, you are my home away from home.