“Friends in three’s don’t work, they don’t last.”

The year of 2009 was rather eventful in the United States. That January, we inaugurated our first African American President, Barack Obama, who unfortunately will be leaving soon. This was also the year the Kanye West and Taylor Swift feud began, one that may never end at this point. Name brand clothing lines also dominated schools, with girls and guys wearing t-shirts and sweatshirts with the names, Hollister, Aeropostale, and Abercrombie plastered onto their chests. While all of this was happening in politics, pop culture, and fashion, something happened in my life that changed me forever. I met my two best friends.

On a late August morning in the sixth grade mosh pit outside North Cumberland Middle School, I happened to be standing next to two girls, who like myself, were dodging the wrestling tournaments in the grass and the toxic smell of perfume and cologne. We stood there, trying to find our friends from elementary school, but there was no shot of that. So we talked. And we talked for seven years after that. We spent Middle school sitting at the very same lunch table in the same spots for three years, our Vera Bradley lunch boxes with sparkly hand sanitizers attached on our laps. Those three years weren’t easy, because a lot happened in middle school, but we somehow stayed together.

High school came along and we were closer than ever. Luckily, we were in more classes together, which was both good and bad at the same time because we easily distract each other. We continued to have lunches together, but our Vera Bradley lunch boxes turned into paper bags. Together, we grew up. We watched each other experiment with our hair, try clubs and sports that either worked or were disastrous, and encouraged each other to succeed. The most important thing about our friendship is that we inspired each other to be better people. One of my friends began volunteering in our sophomore year, urging myself and our other friend to participate with her. Together, we were rewarded for our volunteerism and even ended up on the news. But most importantly, we helped other people while spending time together.

I started college this week, which was awesome, but also really bittersweet. This is the first year in seven years that I won’t be sitting at lunch with them or joining clubs with them. Who will I complain to about my Pre-calc homework, or ask if my outfit of the day is a hit or miss? Or if they have a brush to fix my hot-mess hair? As they enter the next chapter of their lives, both attending the University of Rhode Island, I am so excited for them, because I know they will do so well and meet a lot of new friends. And I know they’ll only be an hour away, so it could be worse. But my heart still hurts because this is the first year that I won't have their schedules memorized to see which lunches we have together and what time they get out of clubs so we can get tacos after school.

But in the end, I shouldn’t be sad, because I’m just lucky to have them in general. All three of us have been through a lot, and there wasn’t one second that we left each others’ sides through it all. We laughed together, we cried together, we laugh-cried together. We celebrated together, we mourned together. And it was all because of that late August morning in the sixth grade when we couldn’t find our friends in the mosh pit. Seven years ago, I didn’t even know these girls. Now, I can’t picture my life without them.

To my best friends, my sisters, and the OG squad: thank you a million times for being my best friends, and for making my time in middle school and high school so very memorable. Thank you for accepting my crazy self and supporting me at all of my chorus concerts, plays, variety shows, and so much more. And, I am so proud of your accomplishments thus far and everything you will do in the future. I will be there for you when things are difficult through college and life; you will always have me. You are my best friends, and nothing will ever change that.

Thanks for the memories, and I can't wait to make many more.