You learn a lot when you go to college. You learn that pulling an all-nighter means staying up all night to study for a test you will then sleep through. You learn that you can roll out of bed 10 minutes before class and go to class looking like it and no one will notice or care. You learn you really can do things for yourself. Most importantly, you learn how much your friends really mean to you. College friends come to mean a lot to you, but they can NEVER compare to your friends from home. Your friends from home teach you the meaning of friendship during your college years. Because you are apart from them you tend to express your feelings more-you learn how much these people TRULY affect your life. You've got your best friend who exemplifies friendship-she calls you AT LEAST once a week, and you feel like you never left each other..she still knows everything about you, and can always tell when something is wrong. She shows you that distance doesn't change a friendship. Then there is your other best friend. She rarely calls, and at times you think she has forgotten about you...until you hear from her. You hear from her for the first time in almost 2 months-and nothing has changed. You are both still the same..even though you never talk, you are as close as ever..and still the best of friends. You find yourself expressing to her just how much she means to you because you realize it now more than ever. She shows you that true friends are friends in the soul..no separation can tear them apart. Then there are those friends that you sort of lost touch with during the end of high school and during the summer. You were both busy but somehow the magic of email has brought you closer together than you ever were in 4 years of the same high school. Away from all the pettiness of high school, you've finally formed an adult relationship..and you realize just how great a friend this person really is. Suddenly, the people you thought for sure would lose touch with in college are the ones you are closest with...and you miss them more than you thought. Sadly enough, there are also the friends you were closest to in high school who drift too far for you to hold on to. You've both changed and suddenly you don't have much to say to each other. But these people teach you a lesson..they make you value others, the ones you have stayed close to, that much more. These distant friends, though you miss them when you think of them, show you who your FOREVER FRIENDS really are. College severs some bonds and solidifies others..it puts a distance between you and the ones you love. But it teaches you SO MUCH! It forces your real friends to come forward, while the rest take their places in the shadows of your memories. In college, you lose some people- but through real friendship and the strength of the soul, you keep the ones you will need most in your life. "People say TRUE friends must always hold hands, but true friends don't need to hold hands because they know the other hand will always be there." The people who fit that mold are your "FOREVER FRIENDS".
