It's ironic: you go to school with the same people for twelve years, and hardly know half of their names. Then you sit next to someone in a gen ed your freshman year of college and instantly become best of friends.

As we grow up, we learn a lot about ourselves and the kind of people we want to surround ourselves with. In high school, I had more friends than I could count, but I realized soon after graduation that they were relationships built from convenience. Girls I thought would one day be my bridesmaids, I now only keep up with them over social media. I was in denial of the idea of ever falling out of touch, but now I can’t help but admit to being a part of a statistic.

I do not blame the friends I used to have, or hold it against them. We all grew up and realized the only thing we shared in common was the one-horse town we came from. We all left a high school where everyone knows all of your past and your mistakes and moving to a university full of new opportunities. It was a fresh start to becoming the people we want to be, and a chance to meet new people who would look to the future with us versus the past.

So thank you to the people who helped me grow up and stood by my side through some of the most awkward and challenging times in my life. I wouldn’t be who I am today without you. And thank you to the friends who I have met in college, for being the most accepting and encouraging friends I could ever have. I have been blessed with a humbling past, and know there is a bright future to come.