When you graduate high school, they say it’s the beginning of your new life. Now you’re an adult, they tell you, and you have all these responsibilities. You’ll go to college, make new friends, and start fresh. Unsure of your place in this world, you follow the path. But you never realize how much these friends would impact your new fresh start in college. At least, not until they’re graduating.

I can’t remember how it happened, how we became friends. Maybe it was over lunches that we wished would last forever, or classes that dragged on until we could barely keep our eyes open. I remember even less how we became best friends; suddenly, we just were, and neither of us seemed to care.

College made our lives crazy, between the hours of studying, the cute boys, and the jobs. Yet, we always managed to carve out time for one another. Once a week, even if it was just for an hour, we’d grab our coffee and go.

Between the two of us, we learned valuable lessons, together. Boys and beer do not mix, but tailgates are still a lot of fun, especially when you know what’s happening in the game afterward. Never leave your phone laying around, because passcodes are known, and people will be texted. Iced coffee orders are to be taken seriously, and brownie batter stuffed into a doughnut is heaven.

There were plenty of sleepovers too, times we stayed up all night watching movies, and then laughing ourselves to sleep. There were the days we got all dressed up, wincing in our heels, but never looking better. My favorite were always the little moments, however, the two minutes in between class, the pictures we sent each other, the panic attacks and the calming down that followed.

We grew up a lot in the past few years. What once terrified us now seems so silly, and the memories we created in doing so never cease to amaze. We had some weird adventures, but no one can deny that they led us to some pretty cool places.

Now, you’re graduating.

And, I’ll admit it, I don’t like it.

You’re going to be a real adult, out there in the actual world, far beyond this school. You’re going to do some pretty incredible things, and people will start to recognize how much of an asset you really are.

But, in doing all that, you’ll also be leaving.

I can’t put into words how it makes me feel, to realize that our weekly coffee meet-up’s will be a thing of the past. Who will go on insane errands with me, in the middle of the day, at the most random time? Who’s going to let me vent for ten minutes straight, and then turn and ask if I’m hungry?

Who’s going to be my best friend?

I know I can do it, but the issue is that I don’t want to. It feels odd to have to complete my journey without you being there alongside me, going through the same thing I am, so that we can share our fears, and laugh with each other in the face of them.

No matter what, even now that you’re really graduating, really growing up, I’ve learned that we’ll always be best friends. We’re too much alike not to be.