There are so many changes that come when you move out and head to college. You're away from mom and dad, you miss your pets and you've lost the comfort of what you know. One thing I think we take for granted though is the availability of our friends.
Growing up is hard, but especially when you can't do it while surrounded by those that know everything about you. They know every secret, every detail of your heartbreak and how to always make you feel better. When the best time to see everyone at once is only in the summer, you begin to count the days until you're all home again, hugging each other in the parking lot of your favorite restaurant.
One of the worst things about being away from them is that you can't be there for them like you used to. When something happens and they need a shoulder to cry on it's not like you can just drop everything to take that five minute drive to their house, picking up they're favorite fast food on your way. You have to console each other through the phone and looking at words on a screen is nothing compared to screaming your lungs out to that song you direct towards that asshole that hurt you.
Of course you all know you love each other, there's no doubt about that. The distance doesn't change all the memories and laughter you shared. The only thing that changes is how you have to learn to work through things without your favorite people by your side at all times. You have to learn how to make them laugh through text and how to make them feel special again because you know they're a star.
Sure, you find new friends at school and maybe you have a significant other that you look to for comfort. Maybe you're one of the lucky ones who got to have one of they're favorite people go away with them. You get to be happy with the people you have now and you get to share moments with them that you'll never forget.
And all of this makes you appreciate your friends more. It makes you appreciate every minute you have with them, even if it's only an hour for late night dessert in that hometown restaurant that you used to go to after football games. The place that, no matter what, you always see a face you know. You begin to appreciate the familiarity of home like never before. You start to understand just how important it can be to pick up the phone and text back when someone sends something in the group.
The ability to hug your friends whenever you want is gone for now, but that doesn't make your love for each other any weaker. In fact, it makes it strong. You can feel your bond to those people more than ever before when, in the middle of tests and class and finding their own way, your friends will be there when you need them. And while I will admit, it is very difficult to get through things without your goofballs by your side, it does not mean that they will never be there again. It means that you're learning how to be yourself and you're carving your way into the world, but you will always have those people to go back to because they aren't going anywhere, and neither are you. You all know way too much about each other anyways.
