Floater: A floater is a social mastermind who wavers between members of one particular clique or between multiple cliques in general
Urban Dictionary 2 Dec. 2005. Accessed 8 Nov. 2016

While I wouldn't call myself a mastermind, I would call myself a floater. This goes back as far as I can remember. I always had lots of friends or so it seemed that way on the outside. On the inside was a little girl who was struggling to find her place in school or as some would say struggling to find my place in society. Lots of people on the outside of a situation like this would say "OH (insert name here), yeah! they are so nice and they get along with everyone". Little do they know on the inside you feel like you don't fit in and that all of your friends don't have a deep enough connection with you for you to feel sure in the friendship.

When we are children our surroundings and our parents dictate who you hang out with and ultimately who you are. That's why college is such a messy place. Everyone is surviving without their parents or without their hometown rep for (probably) the first time ever. Something I quickly learned is that college is a time where you can reinvent yourself over and over and over again. No one is going to ridicule you because they are doing the same thing; granted their reinventing may be on a smaller scale or internally so you cannot see it.

A lot of reinventing comes from the type of courses you take and the people you are around. The people you are around will affect you for the rest of your life.(Isn't that intimidating?) I believe this is one of the reasons we have friends in life. Many people will tell you that the friends you make your freshman year are not meant to be your "forever" friends.

Let's take a moment to thank our short term friends.

Thank you for: all the laughs that we shared, every food run we made at midnight, teaching me what kind of friend not to be, teaching me how to not be a pushover (even with the people I love), taking care of me when I was sick, showing me your favorite songs which became music that I still listen to, helping me come out of my shell, teaching me to love myself no matter what, being a great friend in the short time that we had, and teaching me that even though we are homies that sometimes it's better off to be riding solo.

Not everyone is suppose to be around forever. Don't let the pain of letting a friend go, keep you from thriving. "Forever" friends can have a lot of impact in your life but just remember what the short term friends have taught you.

Much love,
a short term friend