Here's to the last summer with my high school best friends before college...

In September, when we took our “first day of school” picture, I had no idea how fast time would fly. I didn’t think it’d be Labor Day weekend and then I’d blink and we would be turning our tassels from right to left at graduation.

This fall, I will be attending a college close to home, but my friends will be scattered across the country. While I am caught up yelling, “We Are!” at Penn State football games, you will be at the University of Pittsburgh and Ohio State University. You will be at Flagler in Florida and Baylor in Texas. I don’t know when I’ll realize that you’re so far away, but I know that when I do, it will be hard.

I could say I didn’t want this summer to come because it meant that in three months, we’d be walking into new classes and meeting our roommates, but I know we are about to have the best summer yet. I have a few things I don’t want to forget to say to you before you go:

1. Thank you.

Thank you for being on my side even when you think I am wrong. Thank you for helping me pick out the perfect winter formal dress and for telling me that the red lipstick was not something that I could pull off. Thank you for being goofy with me during spirit week, for helping me study for physics even when we both knew I was hopeless and for making everything seem a little bit less scary. Thank you for never leaving.

2. Stay in touch.

I know that in a few months we will have made new best friends, but I hope you’ll know that whenever you can be home, I will be here with open arms. I hope you’ll text, Facetime and send me goofy selfies. I hope you’ll hang a picture of us in your dorm and say, “She’s my best friend from back home.” I hope you’ll try your hardest to come back to this small town whether it’s a train ride or a plane ride. I will be here.

3. But if it’s not that easy.

I know that right now it seems very easy to say we will be best friends forever, but as hard as it is to say this, I know some of us won’t. Life will take us to different towns with different people and it won’t be as easy as walking up the street to see each other. It’s scary to picture life without the best friends I have now, but all we can do is make the best of it right now.

4. When it’s time to say goodbye.

In the fall, the schools you attend will be a better place because they have you, but my small town will feel empty. Maybe we’ll stay friends forever and maybe we won’t, but our friendship will always be a fond memory from my childhood. Thank you for helping me grow into the person I am and for teaching me what it means to be loved.

XOXO,

Your High School Best Friend