Going away to college means making a new home, new friends, and sometimes — a new life. We’re so eager at 18 to graduate and move out that we forget to cherish and relish in the present and fully take in what we have around us. We think we’re tired of seeing the same people day in and day out, we claim how excited we are to move on and to meet new people. We find ourselves repeating like a broken record “I can’t wait to get out of this place” and not thinking twice about it.
College arrives and so do new experiences, new friends, a new home, and a new life. It all seems so wonderful and so fresh. But there comes a time where you’d give anything for one more sleepover with your 7 closest friends in the living room of your best friend’s house.
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I think maybe we’re too young to understand or appreciate what we have at 18. Our goals are bigger than our brains and we have all these high hopes and expectations for the real world. We take advantage of things sitting at us, staring us right in the face and reminding us not to go back to the boy who hurt you junior year. We take advantage of having friends who know us better than anyone else.
High school friends will never compare to any other kind of friend. They knew you with braces and acne, through your side bangs and bad taste in boys. They were there when your parents got divorced and your Grandma died — they were always there for you. Despite stupid fights, and petty drama you stuck through it all and looking back you probably wouldn’t change a second of it. High school friends are those who saw you at your worst, who grew up with you and made you into the person you are now.
Best friends are the ones you cry to about your boy problems, secretly tell them how you want your proposal to go, and who promise to never let you eat the entire gallon of ice cream by yourself. They tell you when you’ve messed up and encourage you to be better. They let you do the craziest things — but never alone. They remind you when it’s time to hit the books, but at the same time remind you that life is too short to sit in the library and force you to have some fun.
High school is a time that is crucial to the person we will become. Growing up with a group of friends that share the same morals, beliefs, and experiences as you are a group you never want to lose. Sometimes going away to college makes you realize how important these people are.
College friends will never understand how hot that one guy is you made out with at that one concert, and they’ll never know what your mom’s breakfast casserole tastes like. They’ll never get how hard you cried when you got your first C, and they’ll never understand why you love your hometown friends as much as you do. Because nobody knows you like your hometown friends do.
No matter where you end up — college or beyond I truly believe high school friends will be the best friends you could have. They were there for you in a time where you needed them most, and if you have friends that can withstand distance, then you know you have friends that’ll last a lifetime. We take advantage of genuine people who love and care about us-those who know us better than ourselves. We may never get to have a group as good as them, and for that reason I will always cherish them.
The girl’s nights, the double dates, the day trips, or the family vacations we tagged along with — they will never be replaced. The girls who I spent hours talking and gossiping with, going to football games with, and eating lunch with. Thanks for not judging me for getting ice cream and pizza for lunch every Friday and always letting me cheat off you in Stats class. Thanks for all the advice and sharing your family with me. Thanks for promising to never let me do anything stupid alone and for being there for me no matter what. Beyond anything else — thanks for being the best group of friends I’ve ever had, and probably ever will.
