It’s about this time that we all start to get anxious about the holidays. They’re so close yet feel so far away! Thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas also brings family and old friends to mind. Some nostalgic feelings have been creeping in when I hear a Christmas song that I used to jam out to with my high school friends or when the caf serves green bean casserole similar to my mom’s (but it can never beat it!).
Since my high school friends and I have moved away from each other, I haven’t talked to many of them. Sure, I still have a Snapchat streak with one of them, and once in a while we’ll have a real conversation about our lives, but for the most part we live separate from each other. It feels strange not to know what their daily life is like and that they don’t know mine.
The great part is, though, that new friendships made in college are so much fun! It’s also a lot easier and quicker to get to know each other since we all live in such close quarters. I know that these friendships that I’ve made so far can last a lifetime. These friends know my current life and truly care about my struggles, as I care about theirs. Getting to know new people on a deeper level is one of my favorite things to do, and college is the perfect place to do that!
Whenever I go home to visit, I still make an effort to see old friends, but we don’t have the same experiences to bond over anymore. Of course with Thanksgiving coming up very quickly, I’m sure that we will all get together to have our traditional Friendsgiving meal that we used to have. I have experiences and traditions with them that I won’t have with anyone new, and that’s a comforting feeling. Old is good, but new is just as good in different ways. New traditions with new people will emerge with time, though I will always cherish the memories I made with special people in my past.