Dear best friends,

Firstly, I miss you all terribly. I miss our game nights and late night trips to WaHo. I miss screaming along with all the songs on the "Wicked" soundtrack. I miss all of our inside jokes and all of your outlandish personalities. I miss our random traditions, like ending game night with a movie, only to have everyone fall asleep, and our sometimes-deep-sometimes-ridiculous conversation. Regardless of how much I miss you, I promise that the rest of this letter isn’t sad; it is actually quite the contrary.

I knew it would inevitably happen—we’d all go off and do our own thing, meet new people. The situation isn’t ideal, but we’re making it work nonetheless! I’m glad we have our group chats, even if the responses are few and far between because of our hectic days. I cherish every goofy snap chat I receive. I know it’s clichéd, but absence does make the heart grow fonder, and when we are all back together again, it’s like we never missed a beat.

Although I long for the day where our squad is back together, I am insanely proud of each and every one of you. We’re beating odds, finding ourselves, and coming into our own; who wouldn’t be proud of that? I’m beyond thankful that I not only got to watch you grow throughout high school, but I get the chance to watch you develop into the amazing adults I know you’re going to be.

As I write this, I can’t help but think about all of our memories together; like going to Wal-Mart at 2 a.m. with a puppy, having our first “tie dye Friday” of many (which happened to take place in one of our teachers backyards), or making fools of ourselves and getting mildly injured while playing reverse charades. We’ve had some of the best times together, but also some of the worst: stressful classes, college applications, break-ups, the list goes on and on. Through it all, we leaned on each other for support and always came out on the bright side.You guys always have my back and I always have yours, I know no matter the problem, you’ll be there; even if it means having to pull me out of a spiny seat at the park. I’ve honestly never met a more supportive group of people, speech contests, sporting events, piano recitals, you were always there; even if that meant a 300-mile road trip in Atlanta traffic. I think I can speak for all of us when I say we have quite a crazy, sometimes awful, sometimes amazing friendship. In each bad time resides a beautiful, amazing memory; in each good time is a crazy story that got us to that point.

No one really quite prepares us for how much we’ll miss our hometown friends when we move away; sometimes it can feel all-consuming, and as strange as it sounds, I’m exceedingly happy about that. I have people to miss, and I have people to miss me, and I’m thankful for that. I’m thankful to have so many precious memories and moments to look back on, like the tattoo on my wrist; to me, it’s not only a peace sign but a physical representation of a night that didn’t go exactly as planned but ended up being an amazing one. Thank you for tagging along on this journey with me. I have no idea where I would be without you guys. Our ragtag band of friends, however strange we may all be, all has something else to bring to the table: new opinions and personal experiences, and learning from you guys has shaped me into who I am today. Each and every one of you is so extraordinary and has taught me so much, not only about you but about myself and the world around me.

Thank you for being the lights of my life, my true support system. Thank you for loving me and accepting me, regardless of the circumstance.

Xoxo,

Your overly sentimental, sometimes-needy best friend.