For some people, there is always a revolving door of friends moving in and out of your life.

The group of individuals you call your “best friends” will change almost annually. They move away, they go to different high schools, or you grow apart. It’s not too sad because it’s almost normal.

Then we go off to college and friendships are again left spinning off from each other. We share acceptance letters and swap room décor ideas, and try not to face the fact that us and our friends will be separated.

But if you’re lucky enough, you will make some friendships that will last a lifetime. You won’t always have weekly Skype sessions, you might not follow all their adventures on Facebook, and you may not see each other for months at a time. These friendships will stretch across thousands of miles but will never break.

Then after months of not seeing each other, you will grab a bite to eat and that friendship will snap back together, with the two of you slipping back into your routines as if simply picking up the conversation again.

The evening will grow late but you won’t even notice. You will keep chatting as if months and miles apart make no difference to your lives. Sometimes one of you will casually say something, a phrase or sentences that hurls you both back to the present, fully aware of the time that has passed between you. Even though time seems to slow down with reunions like these, you both have changed.

It takes a word or memory for you to recognize that the world hasn’t stopped turning. You realize that you’ve grown up, just a little. But then one of you says: “remember when…” and then you fade back into the comfortable old routine.

You will talk about your old friends. Who is up to what? Who is getting married or engaged and how crazy is it because I swear we were just kids yesterday? You will talk about your adventures. About new friends, the places you have lived, how long you will be back before taking off again. You’ll talk about your memories and mistakes made. You’ll talk about the future and how surreal it is.

Your friendship isn’t the kind where you’ll be right by each other’s side. Yours isn’t the kind where you watch horror movies together at two in the morning, or go on shopping excursions, or plan great trips together to foreign places. Your friendship has lasted and will last years. You will grow up but not apart, you will each conquer the world in different ways, and then you will sit down over a cup of coffee or a slice of pizza as you catch up.

You will always see each other when back in town. You will tell each other’s stories and keep each other’s secrets, and you will maintain that special bond no matter what, because it’s special. It’s yours.