For my friends getting ready to graduate,

It seems crazy that graduation is close already. Prom was just last week but even saying that makes it feel like it was years ago.

That was your last high school dance, our last one together. Over the course of three years, there have been so many memories made, through cheer, tennis or track, that I'm not sad that we'll no longer attend the school or even be in the same town. All good things come to an end, but the end is closer than we thought.

Throw it back to how some of us first met on the soccer field back in the summer before I started the second grade and you started third. That's where it all began, which eventually lead to closer friendships in junior high and now in high school.

I'll miss all the Sonic runs after (or during) tennis practice on "Wing Wednesday," but you better believe we are going to have our fair share of Sonic runs during the summer. I'll miss having someone who knows exactly what I'm thinking by just a glance across the room.

Don't get me wrong, I hope you do well in college. It's honestly the strangest thing to think that you're actually not going be here next year, and I'm not sure how we grew up this fast, but we did. This adulting thing is not as fun as either of us thought it would be, but I'm glad you're the one doing it first.

Promise me though that your time in college isn't going to be spent by partying every other night and skipping class the following morning. You're not majoring in how many shots you can take within the minute. You're there to try to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life. Going out is fine, I'm not saying you have to stay in the dorm and study whenever you aren't in class, but do it excessively. Don't skip because you think it's a pointless class and you need to catch up on sleep. You're paying for this, for class, you're not paying to sleep in.

And when you do go out, be smart; I don't want to hear that you dropped out because you got too drunk too often or you'd rather just find a job that doesn't require a degree. Get your degree. And when you come home for holidays or spring break we can have all late night Sonic runs we want, and you can tell me how you love being on your own and independent and I'll tell you that all about the essays in English or how nobody understands Physics.

There's barely three weeks left this semester and then you're done with high school. It's bittersweet because I want you to go off and grow as a person, but I don't you to leave; I guess that's what a snap streak is for right?

Sincerely,

Your younger best friend