When You Leave For College, You Might Lose Your Best Friend

Somewhere in between leaving for school and finding a home in a new place, I found a new life.

Undoubtedly, when I left for school I knew that life would go on as it had before I left and those friends that I left behind would begin to change.

I knew when I left that a part of me would not return to the same people, because we would begin to experience life differently.

What I did not know was that when I left for school the girl I called my best friend, the girl I spent almost every single day of that summer with, would not be there upon my return.

The girl that watched me cry myself to sleep on most occasions because of my recent heartbreak, who traveled near and far with me that summer, would soon become one of the many passing strangers in my life.

Going to school in another state is a lot like studying abroad. Though you may only be a thousand miles away, most days it will feel as though you are on another planet.

Quickly you realize all of your friends at home are drifting into the background as your life takes a new shape. Everything in your forefront becomes the new life you have built.

Those new friends are the people you seek all advice from whenever something is going on in your life. The days of sharing everything that’s new and exciting about your world quickly drifts from weeks to months.

Gushing for hours about the new Sorority you are a part of and the new guys you have met in the navy seem to only annoy your best friend back home.

Soon, you stop talking and social media becomes the only reason you know anything about their life from a day to day basis.

I did not know that as my life shifted away from my best friend that hers would shift toward my ex’s new girlfriend. The girl her and I both met in fall, drunk, at a football game. The girl we were both supposed to hate.

I did not know that when I decided to return home for one last summer that my once best friend would have found a new best friend in the ex, who broke my heart’s, new girlfriend.

I guess a part of me always believed that becoming friends with her was stepping way past the boundaries of girl code, which is why at first all I could feel was anger.

So, to the girl that chose my ex’s new girlfriend, know that I do not hate you or her. I am rather pleased to know that even though I left, you found a friend in someone else.

Though it was not an ideal situation, you found someone to fill that spot in my absence. He found a friend in you and a new love in his life.

So, though I may have lost you both, I know you gained each other and I will forever be grateful as I continue following my dreams around the world I feel a little more at peace knowing you are all happy.

I wish you the best, my once best friend.