Dear High School Friends,

Thank you. I don’t think that I said that enough while we were still in high school, when we still had a common location to hold us together. Now, we’re spread out across the state, across the country, across the world. It’s hard to keep in touch sometimes, especially when we’re all living such different lives, but I have a feeling that our friendships won’t be that easily broken.

Thank you for being there during the good times. For concerts, late night drives, and five-hour shopping sprees. For pranks, long hikes, and stupid board games. For staying up way too late, scary movies, and maybe the occasional chick flick. For diner runs, paint wars, and drive-by water balloon fights. These are the things that I never want to forget.

Thank you for being there during the hard times, too. For answering your phone at 2 a.m., picking me up when I couldn’t bear to be alone, and fending off all the creepy guys. For sticking up for me, letting me cry in your bed all night when I got dumped, and solving problems with ice cream. For making school a little more bearable, checking on me when my tweets were sad, and noticing when I stopped eating lunch. I don’t want to forget these things either. In some ways, they are burned into my memory even more than the good times. I’m honestly not sure how I would have made it without you.

No matter how many new friends I make at college, they could never quite take the place that you’ve had in my life. High school is such an important time, and you saw it first-hand. You were there while I was finding myself, and you even helped me look.

I know that our times together are not over. I’m sure that we will make even greater memories on summer breaks, or visiting each other’s campuses, or even when we’re real adults (adult-ier adults, at least). In the meantime, don’t hold onto our memories so hard that you forget to make new ones. When we see each other again, I want to hear all about your new friends. I want to hear about all the drama, the late night talks, and the times you laughed so hard you almost peed. If you don’t have stories to tell me, you’re doing it wrong.

It seems like just yesterday that we were deciding who would sit at our lunch table, scheming about prom dates, or talking about how hard our classes were (man, were we wrong about that one). We never thought we’d make it out of the hellhole that is high school, but look at us now. It seemed so scary on graduation day, but I think we’re finally all exactly where we belong.

I could never express to you all how much you mean to me, but at least I can say that I tried.

Until next time,
Your Friend For Life