We all like to believe the idea that all friendships last a lifetime. As sad as it may seem, this is never the case. Since we were children we've grown up with belief that we will always be friends with those we've grown close to over the years. We've had play dates and sleepovers and through it all never once questioned if there was a day that we would have to say goodbye. I don’t believe that friendships have expiration dates, but rather seasonal friends. Seasonal friends are friends that are in our lives for a period of time to either teach us a lesson or help us discover something about ourselves as a person.

The “neighbor” friend

We never really plan to have these kinds of friends in our lives...they just kind of happen. It’s easy to remember our parents urging us when we were young to befriend the neighborhood children so we could have playmates. These are the friends you would spend all day hanging out with after school until it was time to come home for supper, then would wake up and do it all again the next day. Neighborhood friends are some of the hardest to say goodbye to because as kids we never imagined that we would have to. For some of those that is not the case, but unfortunately for most it is. No one can anticipate moving or having to lose a friend, but it’s something that just happens in life. These friends keep us company during our childhood and although they aren’t in our lives forever, they are in our memories.

The “school” friend

Everyone experiences this type of friend at least once in their life. The kind of friend that you hang out with every day in school simply because you have class together. You see this person each day, however when summer break comes around you don’t hear a word from this person until school starts again.You may make plans and have hopes of seeing this person but never see them outside of school. Sometimes we never know what a school friend is until we graduate from high school and never have an opportunity to see that person again. This doesn't make them a bad person, it just means that they were meant to keep you company through your school career and nothing else.

The “friend that you thought was your best friend”

These friends are the friends that usually teach us a lesson. We put all our trust in this person with the hopes that they will be our best friend for life, but end up being the complete opposite. This is the friend that you spent every day with, and told all your secrets to. The kind of friend you could call at any time of the day, who had your back no matter what happened. It’s not uncommon that we often mistake this person for our best friend when they are actually just another seasonal friend. Once this friend is no longer in our lives, we are able to better understand which type of person is the right best friend we’ve neglected to find. This friendship is the hardest to walk away from, but necessary in order to move on in our lives.

We spend our whole lives in a constant cycle of relationships which come and go like the seasons that constantly change. It is with seasonal friends that we grow and learn more about ourselves so that we may go through life with certainty in what we what.