Nearing the end of high school, you hear a lot about cherishing the time you have with your friends because they likely won’t be in your life for much longer. I remember being so terrified of losing the people I’d grown up with and trusted and loved so much. Now that I’m more than three years out of high school, I see a lot of people talking and bragging about how they don’t talk to a single person they went to high school with anymore. I find these things hard to comprehend.
The friendships I ended high school with were old ones dating back to middle school, with the exception of one friend I’d kept with me since kindergarten. We each chose our own paths for college which carried us to different universities all across the state. I remember packing my things for first-year move-in, terrified I’d never be close with those few ladies again, or worse, that I’d never find new friends to “fill the void” losing them left behind.
While it’s true that there are a lot of people I’ve grown apart from since high school ended, my relationships with a few of my oldest and truest friends have stayed strong. I talk to some of them every day, others every week, and a some only a few times a year, but whenever we’re reunited, it’s like things never changed.
The best part of it all was that my fears of never finding a new group of friends in college were completely unwarranted. While it took me a while to find the people I spend 85% of my time with, I did eventually find them. They are just as lovely as my high school friends and just as deserving of my time, attention, and trust. When my “home” friends and my “school” friends cross paths, they usually end up getting along pretty well too, which is honestly the greatest blessing.
People will tell you that relationships won’t last as you turn the page between chapters in your life: moving on to college or graduating and going out in the real world, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that strong friendships will last if you let them and the ones that do are the most valuable.
September is International Women’s Friendship Month and I am so grateful for all of the strong, beautiful, and amazing women I have in my life that I get to call my friends.