My hometown friends will forever be my best friends. I wouldn't even consider them hometown friends because what they really are are my best friends who will forever be my best friends no matter how distant we ever get.

My friends from home have been my friends forever. Some since elementary school and most from middle school, but for the bulk of our lives we've been best friends. We have been through everything together- a lot of good and a lot of bad, but the bad things have only brought us closer and made us the group of friends we are today.

These friends have been there through everything. We've known everything about each other for the last eight years, even the embarrassing things that they will never fail to laugh about or make fun of you for. Some of the most fun we have is making fun of each other and bringing up old middle school memories that were super embarrassing at the time and laughable now.

Because they've been there for it all, they've seen me at my worst and my best, even through my awkward stage and they still stuck with me, as I did for them. They know me and know how weird I am, so they would never judge. They know exactly how I function and know exactly what advice to give when it's super important and even when it's stupid and probably doesn't need a lot of input, but their opinions matter. They're always there to send outfit pictures to, asking which shoe to wear, or which picture to post. For anything you could possibly need or have a question about, they're always there to help, no matter how dumb or irrelevant.

We are all separated all across the country at different colleges, but we talk every day in the same group chat we've had since the beginning of high school. There's always someone to talk to for anything. And the best texts to receive are the ones telling you something reminded them of you, or getting tagged in a meme on Instagram that defines your friendship.

My hometown friends will forever be my best friends. We constantly talk about how we will always be best friends. College and distance and having our own lives will never take away the friendships we have. We hope to live in the same places when we grow up and tell each other we're going to be at each other's weddings. I got more than lucky with the friends I have.