Thanks. Everyone you meet in your life has some impact on you. And the friends you make in high school, or grow up with are there with you for a huge part of your life. The part where you’re growing, discovering new things, and just starting to figure out what you want to do with your life. Those are the friends who show you new things and you share the amazing memories with. Sometimes with time, you grow apart from those people, and that’s okay.

So to those friends I want to tell you this: you have been some of the best people I have ever met in my life. I liked going out and having fun, but I didn’t really go out, stay out late and do the things most teenagers did, until I was with you guys. All together we would go and pick each other up, and even if it was just going for food, we always made it fun. We had our little group. Some people didn’t like us because we were like a “clique”, but honestly we loved it. We loved having our own little group that no one else knew what we knew. Our inside jokes were the best. Sometimes we fought, but every family does.

I know we had a falling out, and I was the first to leave, but I think it made us so much better. Yeah it took some time for us to be friendly to each other, but now I love you all so much. It’s crazy because we always imagined staying so close when we were older. We said that we would all go to colleges that were far, and then after we would come back and we would still hangout and have our lives together. We’re going through that now. Syracuse, University of Maine, Louisiana State University, James Madison University, and West Chester University. We’re all so far, but I know we can come back to each other when its time.

Each one of you taught me something about myself and helped me discover what I wanted to do. You were all so supportive of me and of each other with everything we went through. No one could mess with us. I would give anything to go back to those crazy nights with you guys. You meet new people as you move on and to new places, but no one can replace what we all had. We were a family.

So what I’m trying to say, why I wrote this after so long, is because you all deserve so much. You’re great people and I’m one of the luckiest people to had been a part of our “shmamily”. You are those people I’m going to tell my kids about. All the crazy stuff we did and all the adventures. And some of my best friends. The high school times you can never forget. Thanks for showing me what good friends are. And even though we’re not at the place anymore, I wouldn’t trade you for anyone.