I originally meant to post this on a kind of "joke" blog that my friend and I made, but seeing as pretty much everyone reading that blog knows us personally, I figured this post might be better on a more private blog. There's nothing offensive or rude, but ahhh I'm paranoid and this is kind of a personal post and I feel uncomfortable knowing that people I mention offhand could be reading this.
Anyway.
As my friends and I are preparing to trot off to college, we're starting to realize that many of our high school classmates, who we've become accustomed to seeing every day during the school year and usually semi-frequently during breaks, are going to be far far away, busy with their own colleges, friends, and activities.
My school happens to be on the quarter system, so I don't leave until the end of September; however most of my friends leave in the next two weeks, and one of them has already left for soccer preseason.
Due to my Dad's job, I have become semi-accustomed to moving every few years; over the past seven years, I have lived in four very different cities. As a result, I am somewhat used to leaving friends behind and keeping in touch with them mostly through the tenuous, invisible connections of e-mail, texts, and facebook.
I've never moved away knowing that I will come back in a short amount of time, and perhaps as a result of this and my acclimation to moving, I don't feel too sad about my friends moving away for college. Maybe I'm optimistic, or simply naive since my departure is in the somewhat distant future and hasn't quite hit me yet, but I'm convinced that I will be able to see all, or at least most, of my friends when I return for break.
What I've been thinking about more, however, is who exactly I care enough about to keep in touch with properly while I'm away, and who I'll be content with simply seeing sporadically at group events during breaks. As one of my friends put it, I've been thinking about who I'll invite to my wedding party.
I know this sounds cold and harsh, but I don't mean it that way; my experience with moving has taught me that despite trying to balance old friends and new, it is difficult to truly keep up with more than a couple of old friends. Additionally, I believe that while everyone in your life teaches you something, some of them are only meant to pass through, and that's okay. I don't mean per se that I want to stop being friends with certain people, but that I'm content with letting them become casual friends to catch up with every now and then.
Obviously it's too soon to tell since most of my friends are still here, but the fact that high school is over has made me more aware that I'm choosing to spend time with people because I truly enjoy it, not because I feel like I should since they're in my "friend group."
I don't mean this post to be depressing; honestly in some ways I find this transition from high school to college liberating because I've become more aware of who I enjoy hanging out with, and as a result, I've had a lot more fun. Anyways, I'm not sure if there's really a "point" to this whole post, but as I'm a pre-frosh college student, this is the requisite "leaving for college" post.
If you took the time to read this, you are a very patient person, and thank you!
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