“Real friends don’t exist.”

This is a statement a high school teacher of mine made at least half a dozen times.

As much as it irritates me, looking back, I actually believed him.

I was in a pretty dark place in my life. As a senior, most of my friendships had fallen through the cracks. Even my best friend from first grade – the one I’d spent more time with than my own family – was no longer in the picture.

So at the time, my teacher’s words really resonated with me.

“Real friends don’t exist.”

Friends can’t make you happy. They compliment you, but only to mask their own jealousy. The people you think are your “friends” don’t actually want to see you succeed; they secretly wait for you to fail.

I don’t remember the context in which he said these things; I simply remember that he did.

In my eyes, teachers have an incredibly important role; that is to teach, and above all else, inspire their students to be better human beings.

Why did this teacher find it necessary to deny the utter existence of comradeship in the presence of twenty eager young adults?

To this day, I still don’t know.

What I do know is this: He was wrong.

I agree with the fact that good friends are hard to come by. I can count my very best friends on one hand. That doesn’t mean the rest of my friends are out to get me; ready to up and run the second I fall.

See, real live friends exist. It’s taken me a few years, but I’ve finally come to this realization.

Looking back, I had a couple of friends stick with me through my disordered eating days. Anyone who's been there knows how draining it is to stand by somebody battling their own self-sabotaging behaviors. So to those friends who patiently stuck around, thank you for genuinely caring about me.

I mentioned that most of my high school friendships came to a dead end. When I got to college, I filled this void by establishing new connections. These connections blossomed into friendships.

I've made a lot of great memories with my college friends and expect to make many more in the years to come. We mourn each other's losses, celebrate each other's accomplishments and thrive off each other's laughter.

One more thing: I've found someone who makes me happy.

I'm a firm believer that happiness comes from within, but I now know that it doesn't stop there. I've found someone who makes me laugh until my stomach hurts every day; someone's whose presence I never tire of; a friend who lifts me up even on the worst of days.

So to the high school teacher who tried to tell us friendship doesn't exist: You were wrong.