Friends, and holding close friendships upon graduation makes the thought of coming home from college exciting, and meaningful. High school creates a bond between you, and your classmates for you all learn who you want to be with help from your fellow peers. Almost every single person that endures the four long years of high school they create friends that they assume that they will have forever. I for one had been under this assumption, and I could not have been more surprised to learn that not everyone I had once called a friend is not a friend today. I have not been away from home for very long, and I'm only about seventy miles away from my hometown, but I slowly am losing contact, and the intense closeness that I once held with various friends. Coming home for my first winter break has made me realize that friends don't last forever, and that the people who get excited to see you are those who genuinely care about you.

The famous line "you find out who your friends are" from the famous country artist Tracy Lawrence could not be more true. Being away from the people you have known your entire life makes the relationships you thought would last forever harder to hold, and even harder to be quite as close. I had been raised in an incredibly small town where virtually everyone knows everyone's business, and to not know how your classmates are doing can be a difficult transition. Bonds, and close friendships are so important to how we view ourselves, and the image that we present of ourselves to the rest of the world. Friends who make effort to see you when you're home, and those who call you just to check in are those who genuinely want to continue a relationship with you. This winter break I had the privilege to see and spend time with the people I consider to be my closest friends, but I had also gotten to spend time with people with whom I was very close.

People who make effort and seem happy to see you after time apart can open your eyes to who your true friends are. On New Years Eve I had gone to a get together where I had meet up with people with whom I graduated; these people were never those who I had been significantly close with, but I always considered them to be friends. At this get together everyone was so excited to be together, and once again with people who actually know one another. Winter break, and seeing people who were genuinely happy to see me has made me realize that those who say "I miss you lets get together!" but never care enough to make an effort to see you are not real friends.