Returning to your hometown during the summer often means leaving new friends for the old.

While we love both of them, there's a special place our lives for the past and those who experienced with you.

Your high school friends have seen you through the braces, awkward middle school dating, terrible fashion trends, and have chosen to still remain friends with you. They were your top friends on Myspace and their initials were definitely in your AIM profile. For lack of a less cliche term, you've been through thick and thin.

They watched you go off to college and create a new face for yourself. They liked every Instagram of you and your new friends and probably complimented your figure even though you've gained thirty pounds. You all went off to college at the same time, and they truly love to know you're doing well. They answered your drunk phone calls and didn't unfriend you when don't visit them even though you've promised, like, twenty times. A "How are you?" text doesn't beckon a reply of "good u?" They actually want to know what you're up to and how you're doing. And you should strongly value these texts and make a point to send one yourself because they are appreciated more than you can imagine.

You watch each other grow and mature (or not) and still come home and can chat like senior year never ended. They listen to your endless stories that you probably "had to be there" and you excitedly listen to theirs in return. You bring up new memories and old ones and find yourselves having a classic seventh grade sleepover as nineteen-year-old women. And you love every second of it. 

The bond you have with each of your high school friends will require work. Distance is a real barrier and you find yourselves having less and less to talk about. You'll lose some inevitably, but the ones who stick around are truly worth the effort.