Before the summer of freshman year, most people feel sadness and joy. They are about to start a new chapter in their life; and they even have the opportunity to recreate themselves. However, leaving family and best friends are usually the two things that seem to make people hesitant on their future in this strange new place. Everyone knows that they will see their parents, whether it be in their college town or when they come home to visit. The one thing that everyone hears over and over again is that you will not be close to your high school best friends. So to my high school best friends, I wanted to write you something special.

Dear Best Friends,

Every time I think back to high school and the memories from high school, y'all are in almost all of them. I couldn't have imagined life without y'all then, and I couldn't imagine life without y'all now. Before we left, we took advantage of every minute during the summer before our freshman year because we knew we were going across the entire state and being five to fifteen minutes away from each other wouldn't be a thing. Well, y'all were close to each other while I was the one seven hours away, which is "practically like being in a different state."

We were already planning when we were going to see each other even before we graduated. Whenever there was a break coming up during school, we made an effort to see each other and try and catch up on three months of things. Yes, we had our group text but nothing beats actually telling stories in person and seeing the reactions. There are some things that I want to thank each of you for. Thank you for never judging me whenever I would tell y'all about something I did and always having my back. Thank you for creeping on my Instagram and commenting on pictures of us from before we left, and reminding me that y'all would always be there. Thank you for accepting the person I've changed into, though I am still the same in some ways.

I am blessed to say that we are all still close and yes, we made new friends and have new experiences that we weren't there to experience with each other, but we have always been there when we needed a reminder of home. Y'all are some of the most amazing people that I have ever met and I would never trade a memory for anything else in the world. We survived one year apart, so here's to the future and the memories we have yet to make. Y'all will always have a special place in my heart and I will always appreciate y'all more than you'll ever know.

P.S. We survived the awkward years together; we can get through anything.