High School has ended. Time for you and your friends to start making your own lives, your own futures. Some of you decide to go straight into the job field and some of you decide to go to college. Some of your friends might even decide to go into the military, this is the case for me. Many of my friends are in the military, with two of my best friends in the Marines, my cousin in the Navy... to be honest, I've got multiple friends in each branch. For those of you reading, you may be going through the same situation. Let me tell you a few things that you might expect to happen when your friends go to serve.
1. You likely won't talk as much.
You are living your own life, they are living theirs. No matter what you try to tell yourself, "oh that will never happen, they are my best friends. We've been through so much..." My best friends went in. We've been friends for forever, in fact I have pictures with one of my friends at my first birthday party. It happened. Distance is a very large barrier. You are working your butt off to create your own life, and they are working their but off too. You might talk quite a bit at first, but then a little less, and a little more less, these things happen. This is especially true when they get deployed and time difference comes into play. Just because you don't talk as much doesn't mean they aren't as valuable to you, or vice versa.
2. Get used to saying, "I can't wait for you to come home."
This is a phrase you may find yourself getting very accustomed to. When I do get to talk to my friends, I've noticed that quite a bit of the time I ask, "how much longer do you have?" They might get deployed, which means that they aren't going to be home for a really long time. You can't wait to get to see your friends again. You can't wait to hang out like you used to, and it shows in your conversations.
3. When they come home expect to have a lot of catching up to do.
They get to come home. You spend some time catching up, hearing their stories, telling them your stories, hearing about the friends they've made and introducing them to the new people in your life. When the catching up isn't happening, it feels like they never left. Seeing them again takes you back to the way things used to be. You still joke about the same things and find enjoyment in participating in the same activities. At least, it feels like this for the week or so that they get to be home.
No matter what, they will still be your friends.
Even to this day I can still without a doubt say that these are my best friends and will always be. This distance isn't just going to erase all the years you've been together. You have so many shared experiences, the friendships you have had are part of the foundation of the person you are today. They are going to be with you still through all of the big moments. I even got the honor of being the best man at one of my best friends' wedding. The Marines couldn't prevent that.
Things aren't going to stay the same when your friends leave. Things change and life happens. However, I believe that if you really care about them, then you are going to do the absolute best you can to preserve what you have.
God bless the men and women in the Armed Forces. Amen.
