How is move in day already here? It seems like just yesterday we were going to Girl Scout meetings and laughing without a care in the world. Now we’re expected to move away from one another and be real adults. As if just moving away wasn’t hard enough.

In the coming weeks and months our lives are going to change. We’ll be freshmen again, something we haven’t been in years. We’ll all be going through different versions of the same new and exciting freshmen experience. And we will probably even forget what it was like to be in high school together for what seemed like an eternity, but actually went in the blink of an eye.

But before we leave, I want to say a long overdue thank you to my friends. I want them to know that they are the reason that high school was such an amazing experience for me. They were even the reason that I finished high school. They were there for me when I wanted nothing more than to drop out, and they were there when I loved every last second I had in the halls I had walked for four years. They were there for me at graduation when we all finally made it. And I know that whenever I need them, they will be there for me, despite the many miles that will soon separate us.

While I am saddened by the fact that we will not be spending the next four years side by side, I am so grateful that I got the four years that I did. I’m so proud of everything we all accomplished; we made high school our own. Growing up with a movie like "High School Musical" to base all my expectations of high school on, I’d say those expectations were pretty high. And while there was no spring musical, and definitely no Troy Bolton, high school with my best friends by my side was an experience I wouldn’t trade for the world.

As we all embark on different adventures, I look forward to seeing where all my friends go. The next four years are just the beginning for all of us. Some of us will become engineers, writers, or activists. We’ll all become broke college students. We’ll all make new friends, but hold on to the ones back home. There is nothing in this world like friends that have known you all your life; they start to know you better than you know yourself.

To my best friend’s next best friend: Treat her right. My life was made better by being her best friend and I know that yours will, too.

Thank you to my best friends for being just that: my best friends. You’ve got a friend in me, and always will. I love you guys, and miss you already.