Changes in Seasons

Whenever we think of summer our minds immediately go to school's out, tanning, travel, and summer love. But is summer all it's cracked up to be? As each summer pasts I begin to love and hate summer more strongly than the last. Getting a break from all the coursework and trying to become not transparently pale is always enjoyable. And having Say Yes to the Dress marathons with mom makes each Friday after working at the local Piggly Wiggly wonderful. But after being off at college for two years I've begun to experience a sadness to summer vacation. In high school I had a group of about eight best friends, and we've kept in touch as we all go our separate ways. But this summer was different. We didn't all hang out together, there was less to reminisce about, and we began to hang out in smaller groups versus everybody together. Parents are always saying that some friends come and go and that college is where you find the friends that you will stay in touch with forever. Maybe this is true, but it always hurts when the people you pictured growing old in a nursing home with start to drift away. And change is probably the least popular part of growing up. I still love deeply the eight friends that I spent much of my adolescence with, but have had to come to the realization that it is not the lack of effort on either side to connect. At Christmas parties cookies and presents are swapped and stories about college are exchanged. Through these moments a comforting feeling returns and it's like we never left high school. These are the moments I will always cherish and look forward to watching their lives change and grow. Friendships are much like changes in seasons, high school may have been an eternal summer for my group of friends. College has been a different season for us and as we enter adulthood a new season will begin again. I hope that through the changes one thing will remain the same--our friendship. As I enter my third year at Converse College in a few weeks I can't wait to hear about the exciting events in each of my friends lives and look forward to an evolving friendship for the group of us in the coming years.
                               

"Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. The older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young."