It's been nearly three years since we graduated high school. Three years since senior prom and the senior volleyball tournament. Three years since a summer filled with graduation parties, three years since we all said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways. I think in some ways, all of us wondered which friendships would last and which would crumble. While some friends who I expected to stay faded away, I am overjoyed by those who have remained in my life.

When I come home for breaks, I can count on seeing five friendly faces that remind me that even though high school is over, our friendships still remain. I never anticipated that I'd have such a great support system back home among old friends, because quite frankly, everyone always doted on the fact that they did not keep in touch with high school friends, and that I would not either.

Many of my college friends talk about how there are only one or two people they've remained friends with. How, as the years passed, more and more friends slipped away. I am incredibly grateful to have cultivated and maintained five friendships—some that developed on the playground in elementary school, some spent giggling over middle school crushes, and some that bloomed in high school, and have withstood the test of time and distance.

We may not talk every day—hell, we may not talk every week–but when I come home, you are all there, ready for a night at the diner, a day in the mountains. Or even just ready to spend an evening catching up over board games, hot tea and endless mountains of snacks.

My gratitude for my high school friends is immense. We've remained close despite life-changing events—like my transferring colleges, like your breakups, new jobs, traveling, new hobbies, failed classes, everything. Some of you will graduate college this year. Some next year. For others, graduation will take place down the road. As our lives continue to change, I only hope that we continue to remain friends, because after all, we have made it this far.