To all the friends I left behind,

I hope you know it was only in location. I hope you know my heart still lives with all of you. I hope you know how much that silly group message we all still bombard means to me. I hope you know how truly important you all are.

I hope none of you forget the things we've done, the places we've been, and the places we've changed. I hope you never lose that 20/20 vision of the past, in all its perfect imperfection. It was all worth it, to come out of the other side with you.

All of you came into my lives differently and at different times. Your myriad existences, somewhat pushed onto each other by the relentless schedule of public school made me who I am today. We really didn't get to choose who we hung out with all day--our class schedule and extracurricular activities lined up, and they had to, before we had cars and late curfews.

We truly are radically different people, and that means so much and matters so much. Once you're out of high school, making friends becomes very different--it's more about who you are than where you are. This means you are the people I ended up with, but don't let that diction fool you. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

I hope you know that coming home this break was all I could think about for a while. Coming back home to all of you, who are all so different and so much the same as you were before we left. Coming home to all of you, who are so much alike and unalike each other, and the friends I've made here.

Your lives, so driven by motivations so varied from my own, are incredulously interesting and important to mine. I would be lying if I said stalking you on every form of social media I can when I have time isn't a favorite pastime. Because these lives you lead, despite their path, affect mine more than you could ever know. Because the lives you lead are still the lives of people who are unspeakably close to me, no matter how far away you are.

And I wouldn't want it any other way.

Your loving friend