When did keeping friends become so hard? When did having friends stay in your life for a few months become normal? When did having friends just become the people that you go out and drink with? What friendship is has changed over the years.

They say as we get older the type of friends we get changes. I totally get that we make friends with those we have common interests with and who we are very similar with, instead of the friends we are stuck with because we go to the same school. But are these friends that much better? I'm not saying that they aren't good, but are they any better than the friends we had earlier in life?

The friends we meet earlier in life might not have the same interests as you, but has anyone that of the fact that they might come from similar families? When you grow up in a specific area the classes, the politics, and the family dynamics are very similar. Could this influence if the person stays a close friend or not? Growing up in the same area you usually end up having similar memories and experiences. These are a few of the things that bond us to the friends that we meet earlier in life. If someone were to say to me, "Hey do you remember when we were all younger and would go to C.J. Barrymore's for our birthdays?", I would get really excited and we would have a common ground to talk about and bond over. These memories make the foundation for whether a friendship will develop and whether you will become good friends. Friends that we meet earlier in life are also the ones that see us grow the most. Not only do you see them grow physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. You get to see a person go from being an innocent kid to a nerdy teenager to a young adult. You truly do grow up together. If you can stay in contact with friends that you meet earlier in life they can be the most genuine friends you will have, they have experienced a lot more memories with you and hanging out with them isn't just going out to get food and going out for drinks.

As you get older and you move away from where you grow up you get the opportunity to meet even more people. When you go away to school you meet people with all different backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, and family backgrounds. This could be a good and a bad thing. You are able to meet people that are different than you, but still have some similarities. It can be good because you it opens you up to meeting thousands of people instead of hundreds. But is this really the best thing? Out of those thousand people what if you don't meet the people you are meant to be friends with? What if you are too different from them? Even though there are negatives there are definitely positives. As we get older life gets harder. We have to start paying for bills and other things and we realize that life isn't as easy as our parents always made it seem. College friends are at the same point in their lives as you are. You go through hard times with these people, you aren't just going through school and going through life you are experiencing people at the time that may be the hardest part of their life. Friends that you meet in college will do their very best to be there for you through everything even though they have a lot going on in their life. But there are also some friends that won't be there when you need them. Some friends will just be the people that you go out with. I would much rather have a friend that I can do than just drink with. With your friends you should be able to make memories with them, not just going out together. As we get older our friends definitely change.

Both friends that we meet, the ones we meet when we are young and the ones we meet later in life are both very important to us in our lives. But which ones actually stay in our lives? They say the friends you meet in college are the ones that you will be friends with for life. But I don't think this is true for everyone. I was lucky enough yo meet my best friend in 8th grade. I think she will be the person that I will be friends with for life. Does that make any of my other friends less important? No. It just makes them different. Having a good friendship and to have a "best friend" takes time.