To My Best Friends,
It will never feel normal waking up to go to school knowing that you won’t be there, that I won’t see you in the halls, and that we won’t all have lunch together, complaining about the lack of choices available. It will never feel normal knowing that we are all hours away, rather than the five-minute walk that we have been accustomed to for years. I was prepared to go to college, mentally prepared to leave my parents, my bedroom, and even my dog. But nothing could have ever prepared me for leaving all of you.
The hardest goodbyes I had to say were to my family, which of course includes all of you. After years of sleepovers, bonfires, and sports practices, calling you my best friends doesn’t seem like nearly enough. I can’t understand how anyone survived high school without having all of you by their sides, because I know that I would not have. We all started out as awkward, shy, freshmen who were forced to socialize, and ended senior year slightly less awkward, and much more outgoing. If it were not for all of you, I know I would not be who I am today. I most likely would have spent four years of high school with my nose in a book, blind to everything going on around me. And as much as I love books, I wouldn’t trade our late nights working on the class spirit banner, or our walks through three feet of snow for anything.
It’s strange knowing that we are all experiencing different things now, and that we no longer have the safety net that we were to one another. It’s frightening to know that my best friends are making new friends, and all I can hope is that these new friends love and appreciate you all as much as I do. My head knows that it is good for us to be separate and meet new people, but at times I can’t help but be selfish and wish that we could go back a year, and have everything be the way it used to. I want our Friday-night fires, our drives back from practice, and our summer pool days. But I know that these days are gone, and now, the few days we have together during vacations will only be treasured even more.
I have been lucky enough to spend almost every day for the last four years with the five greatest people I have ever met. And yes, I will admit it, I have become spoiled because of it. But despite any distance between us, and any new friends we make, I know that nothing will ever change with us. I know that as we get older, we will only be farther apart, and I will long for the long days we spent together even more. But I have four years of memories (and countless embarrassing selfies and videos) to relive until we are together to make new ones.
