Many people will tell you that the best four years of your life are high school, and that you only get one chance to be that young and free. Your parents may have told you that you meet your best friends in high school, and that these friendships are ones you will cherish for the rest of your life. That’s when you realize your parents still tell little white lies. Yes, high school was an important part of my character development, and that is where I learned a lot about myself. But, no one ever tells you what happens when you go away to college.
I had a small group of friends in high school. We were all very close, and for the most part we all got along all the time. I’ve known these people for years, so of course they’re going to be my friends for life. Wrong. I didn’t realize at the time that everything would change when I didn’t see these people every day. In high school, maintaining friendships was not even an issue. These are the friends you talked to constantly, and lived close to. Of course there was no problem keeping them around. When we all went away to college, though, everything changed.
I had friends going to colleges in different states, and some just across the state. After the first week away at college, I realized that this was going to be harder than I thought. Then some weeks went by, unkind words were exchanged and some fights happened. Trying to save our friendships was harder to do through text messages and phone calls. In high school, we’d get over it the next morning by the lockers. In college, things were dragged on for at least a week. Sooner or later, we all drifted apart. With busy schedules, new friends and homework, we left each other behind in the dust.
This is something I never wanted to happen. I wanted these people to be with me when I got married one day (cliché, I know). I was furious that college came between us, because I knew that we were all better than this. But I did nothing to change it. There was a period of regret, where I was I just thinking about the past, and how nothing would ever be the same. I wanted to reach out to them, but then again they weren’t reaching out to me. Then I realized that these were temporary people. Even though I spent a great amount of time with them, they didn’t know how to act permanent. They didn’t want to be either. Now, looking back at all the good times we had, I’m happy. But now, I’m even happier because we’ve all moved on. The people I have in my life now are people who know how to keep relationships when things get tough, and not just throw them in the garbage. So thank you for showing me what real friends are. I’m much better with you in the past.
