You learn a lot when you go to college. You learn that pulling an all-nighter means staying up all night to study for a test you will then sleep through. You learn that you can roll out of bed 10 minutes before class and go to class looking awful--and no one will notice or care. You learn you really can do things for yourself without your parents looking over your shoulder--but you also learn you never realized how nice it was to have them there, just in case.

     More than anything, however, you learn how much your friends really mean to you. College friends come to mean a lot to you, but they can never compare to your friends from home. Your friends from home teach you the meaning of friendship during your college years. Because you are apart from them you tend to express your feelings more - you learn how much these people truly affect your life.

     You've got your best friend who exemplifies friendship - she calls at least once a week, sends e-mail every day, and even sends you real mail. You feel like you never left each other. She still knows everything about you, and even over the Internet can tell when something is wrong. She teaches you that distance doesn't have to change a friendship at all.

     Then there is your other best friend. She rarely calls or writes and she doesn't do the e-mail thing. At times you think she has forgotten about you... until you hear from her. You hear from her for the first time in almost two months - and nothing has changed. You are still you and she is still her - even though you never talk, you are as close as ever... you are still the best of friends. You find yourself expressing to her just how much she means to you because you realize it now more than ever. She teaches you that true friends are friends in the soul and no separation can tear them apart.

     Then there are those friends that you sort of lost touch with those last few months of high school and during the summer. You were busy, they were busy... but somehow, the magic of e-mail has brought you closer together than you ever were in four years at the same school. You share secrets, heartache, and joy. It's another person who cares about you as long as you will care about them too.

     Away from all the pettiness of high school, you've finally formed an adult relationship and you realize just how great a friend this person is. Suddenly, the people that you thought for sure you would lose touch with in college are the ones you keep in closest contact with and you miss them more than you ever thought possible.

     Sadly enough, there are also the friends that you were closest to in high school who drifted too far for you to hold on to. You've both changed and suddenly you don't have much to say to each other. But these people teach you a lesson too; they make you value the others, the ones you have stayed close to, that much more. These distant friends, though you miss them when you rarely think of them, show you who your forever friends really are and they make you appreciate those forevers much more than before.

     College is rough. College severs some bonds and solidifies others. It puts a distance between you and the ones you love, but it teaches you so much. It forces your real friends to come to the front, while the rest take their places in the shadows of your memories. In college, you lose some people - but through real friendship and the strength of the soul (which is where real friends join as one) you keep the ones you will need most in your life.

     You learn the real meaning of the quote: "If you press me to say why we were friends, I can say no more than it was because she was she and I was I." The people who fit that mold are your forever friends.

     So send this on to those forever friends. Send it to the ones you keep in touch with. And send it to the ones you don't - just to tell them how much you appreciate all they did for you. And send it to your new college friends, who hopefully will someday too be your forever friends.