Olivia writes about how it was tough to maintain friendships after high school, but once she got to college, she found an old friend that changed her life.
On the day of my high school graduation, I remember being huddled in a circle of my closest friends and making the clichéd promise that we would continue to stay friends no matter what.
Though the sentiment is comforting, once you get to college those relationships sometimes disintegrate. The friendships never completely end; they simply get forgotten from time to time. Out of everyone I was close with in my graduating class, I speak to only one of them regularly. Provided, this person has been my best friend since the second grade and we both ended up at the same university, but maintaining multiple strings of communication is exhausting.
For a long time, it upset me that I let many of my friends slip into the shadows. I constantly dwelled on the promises I hadn’t kept. This regret — and my own shyness — kept me from making new friends my first two years of college. I’d become close with people I sat by in classes, hanging out from time to time for dinner or study sessions, but once the class ended, so did the friendship. It felt like graduation all over again.
It wasn’t until last year that something unexpected happened. During Spring Semester, as I walked into one of my many English classes, I heard someone call my name. Looking around, I caught sight of a girl from my high school whom I had seen maybe once or twice since graduation. We were in choir together from middle school through high school and had many of the same classes, but I never considered her a close friend.
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We sat next to each other the whole semester, catching up and reconnecting. By the time summer rolled around, she was my go-to girl for weekend plans and airing various grievances.
Today, she is one of my best friends. She helped me discover the person I have become since high school. Two years ago, I never would have expected us to be this close, but now I can’t imagine life without her. She’s the best friend I never knew I had.
The point is that you never know who is going to come into your life or how their presence will affect you. Someone you never expected could turn out to be one of your best friends. So be open to change and embrace new people and new experiences.
People always seem to say you’ll meet the friends you’ll have for the rest of your life in college. I believe this to be true. And when I walk out of the commencement ceremony with my diploma this spring, I know that when she and I promise to always stay friends, we will.
Olivia Hupp is a senior studying English literature and creative writing. Email her at oh994610@ohio.edu.
