I always heard from all my family members that your high school friends are just that: high school friends. I always thought that was true too because I was never super close with my high school friends. I mean there was always two or three people I thought I would stay in contact with but not a whole group of people. I was wrong. My senior year of high school I made the best friends any girl could ask for. These girls made my heart so happy and they constantly pushed me to be the best version of myself.
Your high school friends, most likely, do not go to college with you, which at first I was upset about because I could not imagine not seeing their faces every day. Then, I soon realized that not going to college with them made our friendship stronger. Since we don’t go to college together, we’ve had to put in more effort to maintain our friendship. Putting in that effort made me realize how important these girls are to me.
Whenever I need them, they are always there for me, no matter the time of day. They are always there to give me advice and tell me how to handle difficult situations. I know that whenever I’m having friend or boy drama, they will be there with words of advice. They do not judge me for what I’ve done and they never will. I love knowing that no matter what I’ve done, they will be there with open arms ready to accept me because they know me better than anyone.
It’s nice knowing that I have a support system that does not go to the same school that I do. I love that if I’m ever having a dilemma, I have a different group of girls to turn to then my friends at school. They all have different outlooks on situations and it’s nice not talking to people who go to your school about school problems. It also helps that 9 times out of 10, they will side with you and make you feel better.
Having friends who go to school across the country from me also makes homecomings so much more exciting. I constantly have different countdowns on my phone to when I get to see them again because I miss being able to go on adventures with them. I was worried that college would change our group dynamic and things would not be the same once we all left for college, but we are all the same people in our core, so things have not changed all that much. If I’m being honest, I think I love the girls in my friend group more now that we are apart more than when we are together. Everyone always said that college rips apart friend groups, but I think in our case it made us closer.
Maintaining your high school friendships may be difficult at times because they are not with you every second of the day, but in the long run, it’s worth it because those people from high school have seen you at your highest and lowest and they know you better than anyone ever will. Ed Sheeran said (sings) it best, “These people raised me and I can’t wait to go home!”