Tonight we went to pick up my brother from a friends house who was having a party, we also gave a ride home to a couple of his friends who live near us. They're all finished grade 12, and some are going off to university. And it made me think...suddenly it took me back to that last summer after high school, and that short time in which we tried to make the most of the friends we knew we'd be parting with, the ones we'd have to say good bye to as we all went off in our different directions. It was a very emotional, poignent time. Exciting as the new prospect of a new school and new life was, it also meant I had to say good bye to friends I'd grown very close too, and who I'd grown with. I remember the tear filled eyes of the girls in our group of friends on that last night when we all hung out, before people had to leave for school. The promises that we'd call, and talk online, the thought that thanksgiving wasn't that far away, the promises that we'd stay in touch. This joyful sadness in looking forward, but knowing what we'd be leaving behind...there was this kind of...sadness? fear? anxiety? I don't quite know what word to use...that although we promised to stay in touch, we would drift apart. And the first year, it was both easier and harder. It was easier to stay in touch, to call and chat with people you hadn't parted with that long ago. Thanksgiving of that first year we all got together at thanksgiving, after our family celebrations, to have our own thanksgiving dinner. That was a good, and interesting time. There were still those close ties left over from the summer. The fresh friendship and memories, and new experiences to share. But as time progressed, and we all got busier in our own seperate schools, it got harder. As we all established seperate lives, we got busier, and I know for myself at least, it got harder to keep in touch with people far away. It wasn't just just the distance however, we were all growing and developing new friends, new interests, new lives. And there are people I have drifted apart from from high school, people that I, somewhat innocently I suppose, thought I'd still be close with through university. It happens I guess, you assume what you have will be there in the future. Now of course I made new friends, and have still been able to keep up some of the old friendships, but not all of them. I'm a different person now, and both distance and personality seperates me from some of the people I related to so well before. I'm happy with who I am becoming, and with my friends and my life right now. But I'll always treasure those memories of that sweet, sad, poignent summer, and of the friendships I had back then.