Going to college, we enter an entire new world of new faces and experiences, and for an entire year we are surrounded by the same group of people; people with eat, sleep and study with. The college friendship is a special one, one that can very well last a lifetime. However, this does not take away from the value of the high school friendship. While at age 18 we leave our high school lives for bigger and better things, we sometimes forget who has been there for us all along. Coming back home the summer after freshman year, things are usually a little different. You share stories; happy for each other’s successes, sad for failures. But with a year apart, there is often an unspoken emotional distance that comes along with it, one that Facetime and Snapchat cannot fill.
And while with each year of our lives this separation grows a bit, leaving us in contact with fewer and fewer childhood friends, it will never separate you completely from your best friends. What we sometimes don’t realize while changes are happening, is just because a friend is not physically there does not mean you can’t count on them. Just because you don’t talk to someone everyday, that doesn’t mean they won’t drop everything for you in your time of need.
College friendships and childhood friendships are two very different things, but one is certainly not more valued. While our college friends watch us mature into our adult selves, yet are also there to witness some of our most foolish and immature moments, our childhood friends represent where we come from and who we once were. As we adapt into different versions of ourselves, it is always important to be able to get back to where we came from. Our childhood friends can keep us grounded, can give us a sense of familiarity when we feel overwhelmed with the pressures of adulthood. They remind us of a simpler time, and bring us back to that point in our lives momentarily simply by being there.
There were times that I became so caught up in my new life in college that I forgot to respond to a text or two from a friend back home. And there were times that they did the same to me. But there was never a time when I reached out, in a time of real need, that they did not drop everything to be there for me.
While moving on to new stages in your life is an amazing thing, make sure not to forget those who have stayed by your side all along. It is easy to confuse those who are always around with those who are always there, but it is just as easy to pick up the phone and stay in touch with an old friend. Friendships change as we change, but that doesn’t mean that they have to fade. Nobody knows you like your oldest friends, and nobody feels like family the way they do. Just remember, while moving forward, don't be afraid to look back every once and a while.
