As high school graduation comes and goes, the chapter of our lives that defined us for the four last years will now cease to exist. There are many things we have grown accustomed to and cannot imagine our lives without that we will no longer have the luxury of. One of these things is having our best friends at our beck and call for constant company, a listening ear, often-harsh advice, and many bouts of laughter. Although I still can't fathom what everyday life will be like without my best friend being a part of it, this is just a few of the things I want to make sure she knows before we move apart.

1. You went above and beyond the cliché mold of best friends.

You, of course, did all those cliché things, such as being there through the good and the bad, taking the super-cute and totally basic Instagram-worthy photos and putting up with my completely unnecessary mood swings, but you also did much more than that. You took care of me, you watched out for me, and you did right by me, even when it didn’t benefit you. You went through not only the good and the bad with me, but also the ugly, the ridiculous and the pathetic, all so I didn't have to do it alone. Not to mention, you always pulled me out of it whenever possible. You weren’t just my friend when it was convenient for you, but you were my friend when it wasn’t. There’ve been so many times you had to pick up the slack for me, and there’s never been a time you didn’t. Thank you for that.

2. I don’t know where I would be if you hadn’t always taken care of me, even when I put myself in the situation.

I’ve always been the friend that couldn’t take care of business, and you’ve always been the friend that could. Thank you for all the times you said no for me, because I couldn’t do so myself. Whether it was to a guy at a party, a friend at school or even to a DM on Twitter, thank you for being my backbone. Thank you for being my balance. You were always the levelheaded one and I was always the hot head. Thank you for keeping me from sending that nasty text message to my mom, deleting my dramatic and highly pathetic tweets, and for reaming me for all the stupid fights I picked with my family members. You kept me safe and protected me not only from danger but also from my own stupidity and emotions, even though it was never your responsibility to babysit. You had to play mother hen too many times to count, but thanks to your constant protection of me even when I didn’t believe that I needed it, I feel like I might actually be capable of taking care of myself in college (with many desperate phone calls to you, of course.) You made me strong and you made me smart. Thank you for that.

3. I'm thankful for your blunt honesty.

I walk around with my head in the clouds literally all the time. Sometimes, I swear my feet don't even touch the ground. I have no sense of reality when it comes to anything good or bad. The good things seem better than they are and the bad things seem worse than they are because I’m so far out of touch with reality. However, your blunt honesty always keeps me grounded. Thank you for not enabling me, although that would have been easier on you than being completely honest. You always are truthful with me, even when I don’t want to hear it, which not only helps me in the in the aspect of the situation, but it also gives me credit as a person that I’m capable of handling the truth. You never sugarcoat things with me, and when I screw up or act like an idiot, you tell me so. Thank you for that.

4. Not a single college friend could ever change what you and I have shared.

I know in college we will both make new friends, and I guarantee both of us make a friend that we will each at one point call our best friend. And that’s OK, because although we both will make new friends, and I really hope they end up being really great, they will never change the friendship you and I have shared. We will share a completely different friendship with our college friends then we have shared with each other. Although our college friends may see our anxiety-filled cram sessions the night before finals, our seemingly endless change of majors and minors, and maybe even the start and end of a few serious relationships, our college friends will not have been a part of the 4 a.m. conversations at Whataburger speculating what college will bring. Our college friends will not have been a part of the many tears wiped because of the brutal pain of a first heartbreak. Our college friends didn’t see us finally heal from those same heartbreaks, and watch each of us find the beauty in that healing. Our college friends weren’t a part of the day we cried in your mom’s office because senior year sucks and so do goodbyes, and they weren't a part of the excited screams and tight hugs after being dismissed at graduation. That was all us. Of course we will make new friends, and maybe we won’t text every single second of every day, but the new friends won’t replace the old because there’s some history you just can’t erase. I wouldn’t want to either.

5. I am so proud of you, and I have faith in you, always.

In college, there will be days we question why we are there. There will be days we just want to drop out and go home. There will be days where we are dead set and convinced that we just aren’t cut out to make it through college. And sometimes those days may even last more than just a day, but instead maybe a week or even a few months. Whenever you have one of these days, always remember that somewhere out there, someone believes in you, even when you don’t believe in yourself. That someone is me. That’s corny, but I’ve also seen all the different sides of you. I’ve seen you mad and had you mad at me. I’ve seen you sad and I’ve seen you stressed and I’ve seen you so happy you can’t even control yourself. And because I’ve seen all that, I’ve also seen how passionate you are, how deeply you feel, how much you care and how much compassion you carry. Because of this, I know you have the passion and dedication to make any of your dreams reality. So when you beat yourself down, and think you can’t do it anymore, remember that someone out there who knows you almost as well as you know yourself, has full faith in you and your abilities, and keep going. I’ll always be proud of you, and even though it’ll be from afar, I’ll be cheering you on every step of the way.

6. No matter how much we change, our friendship will remain.

In college, we are in a completely different world from the town we grew up in and the high school where we all knew each other and who each of us was. College is the first chance we have to become whoever want to be, without any boundaries to stop us, so it’s inevitable that we will both change as people. However, even though we will both change, some parts of us will always remain the same. I know that no matter how much your interests change, you’ll always be the most forgiving and kindhearted person I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing. No matter how much I change, I know I’ll always be the most optimistic ball of stress you’ll ever meet in your life, because you can change who you want to become but you cannot change who you’ve been, and you can’t become anything without being something else first. Our roots have grown together, and although our branches may grow in different directions, our roots will always remain tied together.

7. Five hours is tough, but our friendship is tougher.

Five hours is very different from 15 minutes. When we’re in college, we won’t have the luxury of going and getting dinner every time we get bored, or sitting in the Walmart parking lot doing absolutely nothing but being in each other’s company. It will be hard to go weeks, even months on end without seeing each other, and maybe even days without talking to each other. However, no matter how much time passes, and how wrapped up we get in our own little lives, always know that I’m just a phone call away. I don’t care if you haven’t talked to me in months, nor will I care if you just talked to me an hour ago. You will always be important to me, and no matter how far we drift apart, our friendship will always remain strong, because connections like ours aren’t just for a few years, they’re for a lifetime.

This article is dedicated to my best friend, Maggie Gillard. Thank you for being the best friend I've ever had, and I'll be reppin' purple and white for you, all the way in Stillwater. Three hundred and thirty-nine miles has nothing on us.