This year, my group of best friends from high school and I will be celebrating our 4th thanksgiving together (or what we like to call...Friendsgiving)
We decided our senior year that we were going to start a tradition since we would all be moving away from each other.
With six different schedules, we have still managed to take one night at the end of November to relive the moments from all of the years that have passed and talk about the memories we have made since we've been away from each other.
Although we have spent the last 4 years in a long distance friendship, that one night together makes up for all of the time apart.
Friendsgiving is more than just one night of turkey, mashed potatoes, and wine-- it's about making up for the lost time, celebrating each other's huge accomplishments, and coming back to our foundation-- which is each other.
This year, I am more thankful for Friendsgiving than ever. 4 years ago we were seniors in high school. Our time together was coming to an end. 4 years ago we were 6 months away from being high school graduates and on our way to becoming who we are now.
4 years later and here we are. In 6 months, some of us will be graduating from college, some will have gotten that job promotion they've been waiting on, some of us will still have a little schooling left (proud of my girls for sticking with their dreams), and one of us will even be getting married. Things are changing.
I'm thankful for this Friendsgiving because some of the biggest moments of our lives are coming up.
This Friendsgiving is our last thanksgiving where almost all of us are coming back from college, before some of us get actual jobs that affect other people's lives, and where we all still have the same last name that we've always known.
This could be the last Friendsgiving at one of our parent's houses because next thanksgiving a majority of us will probably be living on our own (or with our spouses).
This could be the last Friendsgiving before we start talking about the possibility of having kids, moving to different states, and/or where some of us start making some huge impacts on other people's lives.
4 years ago, our 18-year-old selves made a pact that we were going to have friends giving every year. So many things have changed in those 4 years. There has been a lot of success, failure, heartbreak, happiness, and.. new friends.
But these girls will always be different. Our connection is different than the new friends and people that have come into our lives over the past 4 years. A lot of my friends from college don't talk to their friends from high school still. That makes us different. That makes this friendship special.
We were with each other through some of the worst times and some of the best. They helped define who I am. They helped show me the best parts of myself. Without these five girls, I would not be who I am today.
So thank you. Thank you to the five of you who have put up with me since before I could even remember. Thank you for sticking out all of these years with me. Thank you for supporting me, listening to me, and making me feel like nothing has changed when we come together every thanksgiving for that one night. You all have built the foundation of who I am all of these years later.
This Friendsgiving is different than the last three Friendsgivings. This Friendsgiving is different because a lot of things will be changing here soon. Big life changes will be happening. And for our 5th Friendsgiving, we will all come back different people with different stories and new memories.
So cheers to turkey, mashed potatoes, and of course wine... but special cheers to years and years of friendship, memories, laughs, and all of the changes that are to come.
I love you all so much.