Some friendships last a few months, some a few years. Some people only stay friends as long as they see each other every day and some people don’t even like their friends. Some people are lucky enough to keep friends forever, and I believe I’m a lucky member of that club.

It’s not easy to keep a friendship alive. It requires a lot of effort, whether that effort involves keeping the weekends open so that you can drive a few hours to see them or set up a Skype date every few weeks. It also requires a lot of flexibility and being okay with a lot of change.

I met my best friend 14 years ago on the first day of kindergarten when fate brought us together to the “Brown Table.” We introduced ourselves to each other and immediately made a mutual decision to be friends. We played mermaids in her backyard, called each other literally every night, and begged our parents to let us have sleepovers almost every weekend.

We grew together through the cringy years of middle school, co-writing every text either of us ever sent to a boy and getting ready for every dance together.

We drifted apart every now and then, but we never strayed too far and never stopped being friends. We stuck with each other through high school, through every break-up, through every disagreement, and through every low point. We both changed and became different people, but the one thing that never changed was our friendship.

I have grown up to the person I am today with her right by my side. We’ve even talked about how we would probably be very different people had we not been good friends all these years. At this point, she’s basically my adopted sister.

She’s surpassed the "best friend" title.

Now we’re both in college, her in the cities, me right here in St. Peter, both creating bright futures. We don’t see each other very often, but when we do, it’s like all that time has never past. Our phone calls last hours and we message back and forth frequently.

It’s rare to find someone you connect to at age five and continue to connect with to at age 19, but it’s definitely possible. There isn’t a manual on how to keep a friendship and you can’t just throw one together like a box of legos. I’d be lying if I said our friendship is perfect because it definitely isn’t. But I’d also be lying if I said it wasn’t a grand adventure that was worth every second. Keeping a friendship this long takes a lot of effort and love, and two people who never give up on each other, no matter how crazy life gets.