Have you ever had that one best friend who you could never envision your life without? You know, the one you probably planned your entire life out with? I'm sure most of us have.

We all have had one or two of those people who we thought would always be in our lives, no matter what. Through thick and thin we could count on them and they could certainly count on us. But what happens when that's not longer the case?

For me, it was a process of maturity and learning how to let people G(r)O(w). My ex-best friend and I did EVERYTHING together. Looking back, we were so annoying to pretty much everyone around but I didn't care because I loved her and I loved our friendship. She got me. I mean, she really got me like no one else did and that was awesome. I was sure that we were going to be best friends forever until we weren't.

This isn't so much about me as it is, the lesson that I think we all learn at some point. When and how do we let people go/grow? My problem was we got older we essentially began drifting apart. We had different goals and different morals and there was no longer a glue to hold us together. If was difficult seeing someone I loved and cared about turn into someone I didn't know at all.

I've noticed that I tend to compare people to myself. I have high expectations for everyone because my parents have always had high expectations for me. I was often disappointed when my friends would make, in my opinion, poor decisions, repeatedly. I understand, now, that everyone has to figure out life for themselves. Personally, I like to learn from other people's mistakes so that I don't have to make them myself but I realize not everyone learns that way.

As my friend and I both began growing in different directions, we tried, at first to hold onto this thing that was once a friendship, but that faded into a series of short conversations with little to no meaning to them. It was hard, but we let each other go. And I'm glad we did. We had some of the best times figuring out the pre and early teen stages together and I'm grateful for that but we realized in order to grow we needed to let each other go.

I am a firm believer that there is a season for everything, even friendships. Try as we might to hold on to those seasons, they go. In this regard, maybe it'll come back around, maybe it won't. I learned a lot from that time in my life, as we all should. If she ever needs me I'll always be there, but in my time away from my ex-best friend, I have continued to blossom into the beautiful young lady I always aspired to be. I have learned a lot about myself and more importantly I've learned a lot about God and who He has called me to be.

So, if you're going through a process of maturity and have to let some friends go, don't count it as a loss. See what it is you need to learn in this time and appreciate what once was.