When heading off to college many of us hear others say, "These will be the best years of your life." Along with that pessimistic cliche, people tend to tell you that the friends you make at college will be your best friends -"Forget about high school!" or "It's the college friends that last a lifetime!" Maybe that's true for some people, but let's be honest, it's OK to keep high school friends.

I have friends here on campus that I consider very close friends, but it's the three friends from home that are still my best friends. It seems that those of us with best friends back home are made to think that because we don't have people here at school that we call "best friends," we must be doing something wrong. I don't think of it that way. Maybe I just haven't met the right people, but I'm OK with that. I've already found the right people for me.

What's so wrong with finding those closest friends earlier in life? What about them being from high school makes people think they should be thrown aside after graduation? There's this nonsensical stigma around high school once you leave it. Mention high school or old friends and people gossip about you being "stuck in the past." We don't have to be "stuck in" the past, we can move forward with our pasts. You spent four years in high school and you'll spend four at college. They are equal parts in your life story, so why try and erase the parts already written?

I have spent years building my best friendships and working hard to get them to where they are now. These are the people I have developed the strongest bonds with. We still talk every day, we still argue at times, but after more than a year at separate schools, nothing has managed to drive us apart. Yes, it is hard when all you want to do is run to your best friends and tell them about your day. It is hard when you want to spend your weekends with them. It is even harder when you go months on end without actually seeing them face-to-face. But you figure it out. That's how all relationships work.

It doesn't matter when you meet those forever friends, and it doesn't matter where. It's the friends that you love enough to cling to no matter how many miles apart that will last a lifetime.