Once upon a time, we were closer than close. We used to spend so much time together while we were in high school. However, we all had to move on. We went our separate ways for college, work, or to build our own families. The only thing was, I expected to still be friends. Can I even call you a friend?

I honestly do not know the answer to that question for some of you. I still do not understand how we drifted so far apart. The only thing is, if you want to be a friend, I expect you to take five minutes out of your life to ask me how I am and catch-up. Some of you did not even take the time to say "happy birthday" to me. I will always do that because you were a part of my life. I am so sorry if I have not talked to you in a long time. I want to change that, believe me, I do. Things just keep getting in my way and keeping me busy.

I want to thank you for being a part of my life and being there when I needed you. I also want to thank you for making me realize that maybe I did not need you as much as I thought. Maybe you are the reason I am so strong today. I used to be so emotional that I broke down crying over everything. I would say I was having an emotional breakdown, and within minutes, I would have multiple people ready to take me to their house for a girl’s night.

A few years later, that all changed. I would reach out, and no one would care, or I would keep it to myself and wait for someone to contact me. The only hard part was no one tried to reach out and ask me how I was doing. We all still spent some time together, even though it was not enough. When high school was over, communication between us happened less and less, until I am three years in and have not heard from some of you in years. Without you, I learned how to keep myself going when I was ready to just quit. Thank you for teaching me to be independent.

Because of where I went to college, I knew absolutely no one when I started freshman year. I spent a lot of time coming home to see some of you. It took me until sophomore year to realize that I was completely losing some of you as friends. I made a lot of new friends at college, especially freshman year. I was able to pour my soul out to these new friends that I only knew for a short time. I told them everything I could, and they helped me with heartbreak and friendship troubles more than I could have imagined.

Sophomore year proved to be challenging, but it gave me another great friend that I became closer to this year. Junior year has been by far my favorite time of college, as I made amazing lifelong friends that are not afraid to tell me how wrong I am sometimes. They are the ones helping me through situations and pushing me to do better when I am in the wrong. I thought that you would be doing that, but I was absolutely wrong. I appreciate every heartache you helped me deal with, but I realize now that I needed these new people more than I needed you for this time in my life.

Sometimes, it pains me to go home now to see all of the people I lost in my life. I love spending time with my family now, which I feel like I took for granted when I was younger and only wanted to see friends and boyfriends. When I come home from college, I spend every minute I can with family and the one friend I stayed close with. I want to thank her for always messaging first to stay in touch. I don’t know what I would do without her.

I leave some time to spend with new friends I have made that are close to home, but I always keep some time open for those that want to catch up after spending so many months or years barely speaking to each other. I feel like I have completely lost some of you, and it is really sad to have to say that, especially after all of the memories we have made together. I used to have hundreds of pictures of all of us hanging in my room freshman year, but now you are lucky to make it into one or two photos. I am busy making memories without you.

Please, feel free to make new memories with me, but that is all up to you. It seems that you have moved on, and I have too. As Fall Out Boy once said, “Thanks for the memories.” They were good ones, and I will never forget them. I hope that one day we will catch up, but if we don’t, I will always remember the times when you were there for me. I hope that you remember me the same way.