My Forever and Always Friends

I love the memories that I have of my group of girls from high school; our Friday night dinners, surprise birthday parties, and all of the laughter. The summer before college, a blur of dark chats on the front porch and carrides to one another’s houses. We shared everything from inside jokes to insecurities about college. But when we parted last fall for our respective colleges and universities, something changed—our friendships.  

In those moments of settling in, finding our places at college, finding ourselves; we no longer needed each other in the ways that we had just a few months before. Instead our friendships turned to a few texts here and there, a group dinner at Christmas, and a couple of Facebook chats sharing a hello or a remember when. And, for us, that was perfect—exactly what we needed. We each had the opportunity to find our spot at school, find who we were meant to be for the next four years and meet even more friends who will forever have a place in our lives.

But then—much to my surprise—when we all got home for summer, it was as if nothing had ever changed—but something had once more. We were still fighting over who could talk first, laughing at the silliest things, and running back and forth to each others’ houses. But, as I said, something has changed.

By some crazy event, we are somehow so much closer than we were. We shared so much together in our final year of high school, felt the absence of each other’s presence while at college, appreciating the friendships we had forged so long ago, and are now reunited to make this summer before our sophomore year one of the most memorable yet. And it’s absolutely amazing.

I now know that lifelong friendships span time, distance, and limited communication. They span break-ups, new loves, and family troubles. Because the things that hold them together—the friends—are more than just separate entities, but are tied together by love and memories and this makes these friends a family.

And already this summer, in these couple of weeks post-reunion, we’ve shared dark chats on the porch, carrides to each other’s house, and girls’ nights that have us craving the weekends. I cannot wait to see what comes of our next few months; the adventures, the stories, the memories. With my forever and always friends.