I'm really lucky when it comes to my friends. I don't know many people who can say that they've known the majority of their best friends since they were 5. Most of the people I grew up with are still some of my closest friends. Whenever I go home from college, I have a solid group of about 20 friends I can always hang out with. We may not always be together at the same time, but it is the most amazing thing to have their friendship.

Most of my friendships now stemmed from elementary school. And we all live within five minutes of each other. Growing up, we could bike to each other's houses or our school's playground to play manhunt on a Friday night or just hangout on a Sunday afternoon. It was never hard to see each other and is probably why we all became so close.

Aside from living close, knowing each other since we were 5 means that we grew up with each other. We've been through most of each other's highest points and lowest points together. We've seen each other with braces and bad haircuts. I grew up seeing their first relationships and first break-ups. But, no matter how awkward we all were at some point, we still ended up together.

Middle school was when most of us drifted apart. We were placed in a huge school where five other elementary schools merged together. A lot of us made new friends and didn't hang out with each other as much as before. But, once we got to high school we all came back to each other with a few extra friends at our sides.

Being back with the elementary school friends in high school made it so much better. All of our parents were friends, so it was easy for our parents to trust us wherever we went to hang out. Despite how many new faces were coming into our lives, we always had those familiar faces with us all the time. We went to prom with each other, cheered for each other at one another's sporting events and we still spent those Friday nights together.

When we graduated, we had a lot of hard goodbyes. We had to say goodbye to the people we've known for 12 years. For the first time, we would all be in different places. It was the start of something truly new and it was scary. But, going off to college without them wasn't that bad because I knew I always had people when I got home.

I got really lucky with my friends. Most of the people I met in college hated going back home because they didn't have that many people they wanted to see. A lot of people just had a few friends to return to, but I had a whole squad. Where most people spent their breaks at home watching Netflix, I got to spend every day (for the most part) with my friends. A day was never wasted with them and no matter how much time we spent apart, nothing would change when we would come home.

It got hard when people moved away, but they never moved too far. Our lives are getting busier and we're all doing great things, but we never forget about each other. Sometimes we fight and sometimes we don't like each other too much, but at the end of the day my friends are who I call home.

There's going to be a day when we won't get to see each other every few months and there will be a day when goodbye might mean for good, but I will never forget the people who made me who I am today: the people who led me to some great and some not so great decisions. I will never forget the people I grew up with.

So, I am thankful for my childhood friends and everything they've done for me. They've supported me through all my hardships and all my successes. I wouldn't change my life with them for anything and if you're lucky enough to still be friends with the people you've known since you were in kindergarten, never let them go.