Summer is coming to an end and we're all rushing out to Wal-Mart to buy our final notebooks, cleaning supplies, and storage units as we prepare ourselves to depart from our friends, families and significant others.

I'm counting down the days until I leave for college, I couldn't be more excited for the fresh start and the new beginnings that I am going to face, but the one thing that's making me less excited as I should be is leaving the people I've spent my entire lives with behind.

No more calling them up at 10am to go get breakfast with you, no more spontaneous midnight adventures, no more movie nights with the girls, no more bonfires, no more, "high school" parties. It makes me sad at the thought that those little things are going to be so out of reach as we all move away, so many miles apart from each other.

I guess it scares me to say goodbye to you all, it scares me a lot. There has been days in high school that I don't think I would have gotten through without the support of my friend group by my side, and now I'm going to have to jump in this new city, with new people and face my problems on my own. You guys won't be there for me to text you 3rd period and say, "Meet me in the bathroom" when you realize the guy you like has been cheating on you, or when you just failed your final exam, or when you just needed a few minutes to get out of class to talk to your best friends because the stress of school finally got to you.

But don't get me wrong, I am more than happy for all of us to start this new chapter of our lives, I think we all need this. I think we all need time to get away from the small town we grew up in, because this town that we are preparing ourselves to leave, will always be here. It'll always be the place where we had all experienced our first kiss, first heartbreak, first F, and most importantly, first friend.

I know this isn't goodbye because a goodbye is too long, and to final of a word to say to you all. I have been preparing myself this whole summer to enjoy every single moment I have spent with you guys because I knew that within month’s moments like these were going to be so out of reach, like miles away out of reach. I can't wait for the new friends that I will make at college but I can't wait to rush home on our winter breaks and reconnect and tell each other all the stories and memories we've made so far within the first months we've spent at our universities.

"When it is time for you to venture out, don't let fear have you looking back at what you're leaving behind, because there is a secret that only real friends know, and it is this, "All the mountains and valleys in the world cannot separate friends whose hearts are as one."

So to my dearest friends that I have grown to love and appreciate more and more over the times and memories we have made, I am just as scared to say goodbye to you as you are to me. Leaving is scary, especially when you have the fear of becoming replaced with a new best friend, and a new friend group as we all go off and do our own thing, but I know that no matter how many new friends I make over the few years at college, I will never ever forget the people who made me realize who and what a friend even meant. You guys have shown me the meaning of friendship and I know that because you are the people you are, you will always hold a place in my heart, whether years from now we're still meeting up for coffee as we return home to catch up, thank you for the memories, thank you for the life lessons and more importantly thank you for being a friend to me. I will miss you all dearly, more than you all will ever know. Don't forget me.

Sincerely, a friend whose not to ready to leave you all behind yet.