The end of senior year is an exciting time. You're basically done with school, you have prom, senior skip day, and (most importantly) graduation. You can't wait to get out of high school and move onto the next step. You and your friends are having the time of your life.

But in just a few short weeks after graduation, you and your friends will go your separate ways, scattered across the country to bigger and better things and to become who we're going to be for the rest of our lives. And you won't be ready to say goodbye.

Your friends have helped you become who you are. They've been there for the crushes and the breakups. They've been there for the awkward middle school years when you wore sneakers to school dances and they've held you steady when you tripped in your heels at prom. They've been there for your sweet 16 and driver's ed and college acceptances and rejections and everything in between. You've been there for them too. You've all always been there for each other.

On your first day of high school, you thought you would be here forever. As the years went on, seemingly going faster and faster each time, you all pictured the moment that you would walk across the stage and receive your diplomas, wearing the decorated graduation caps that you all made together. And now here you are, completely shocked by how fast it's all gone by.

It won't be easy to say goodbye to these people, to your sisters, even though it's not for forever. After spending your whole lives together, it's gonna be hard to make new friends and start over in a new place. You'll be away from home. You will be learning and doing wonderful things as you grow and go through college, but you fear that it won't be the same without your best friends by your side 24/7 like they are now.

I say all of this because in just four weeks I will be graduating from high school. Soon after that my friends and I will leave our hometown and go to college. And as proud and excited as I am, I'm not ready to say goodbye to them yet.

So this is a thank you to my friends. Thank you for all of the laughs and stress and tears and love that we have shared so far. Thank you for the hours sitting around a fire or in someone's living room talking about life. Thank you for everything you have done for me, and thank you for being the amazing people that you are. I love you all so much, and I'm so proud of all of you and everything that you've done and will do.

We're about to take the plunge into the rest of our lives. And it's not going to be easy. But I take a great comfort in knowing that, no matter where we are, we will never be more than a phone call, text, or snap away. And knowing that gives me the strength that I need to go forward, and to begin the rest of my life. We did it, guys. Let's go!