Posing for "the gram" freshman year right before the Gators dominated Kentucky 38-0. Most of us were just getting to know each other. We were still searching for our place among the 50,000 students that call the University of Florida home.
I remember when we first met. At a freshman meet and greet, when we were paired together for a group project or when showered each other with compliments in the bathroom at crowded bar. We both had a little too much to drink and giggled as we tried to Snapchat our friends.
Over the past four years, we've created so many memories together. Football games, birthdays, all-nighters. My photo albums were filled with our smiling faces, before the real world seemed so real. The clock is ticking down and graduation is creeping up on us but you are nowhere to be found.
I know you are busy. I'm busy too. Yet, we always made sure to catch up even when I was at my internship and when you were studying abroad. I remember ditching class to binge on fro-yo and vent about exams. I remember driving around at 2:00 a.m. talking about our hopes and dreams, looking for a midnight snack.
It may seem like amidst the craziness that is senior year there is just not enough time for each other, and even ourselves, but that's not true.
Time is all we have. It's our most precious resource and we're quickly running out of it. While you're planning for life after graduation, a future with your significant other or anything else that's on your mind, I ask you to remember that this is it. After we walk across the stage we're off to the races and creating our adult lives.
Maybe we'll get married and start a family, maybe we'll move halfway across the globe or both! Who knows? The one thing I do know is that it's the last time we'll be in such close proximity to each other. This is the last time I'll be able to drop by your apartment to just hang out and the last time we'll be able to shirk our responsibilities for college town happy hours. In the future, if we want to spend time together, it'll have to be using our vacation days.
I didn't expect us to be this close forever. I know what lies ahead. We are both so driven and talented, our paths may not always align. I did, however, expect for us to make the most of our last days together. I don't like seeing you in passing and saying we'll catch up sometime. It hurts to find out about changes in your life through status updates and it's painful to think that our friendship may not mean enough to you to preserve. Actions speak louder than words, and as cliché as it sounds, if you wanted to spend time with me, you would.
I'm not angry or vengeful. If anything, I'm grateful for the times we spent together and for this important lesson. Life is a cycle of beginnings and endings and this will happen again and again as we move through different phases of our lives. Thank you for make our university feel like home and our friends like a family. Thank you for giving me a reason to smile when my burdens in life became to heavy to bear.
I'm happy that you that you're pursuing your goals and I hope you will cheer me on as I do the same. I want you to know that you will always have a special place in my heart, but I cannot hold on to a relationship that is not being reciprocated.
I hope that when you look back on your college experience, you'll think of me and smile. I hope you know that it's not too late to fix this, but most of all, I hope you're willing to try.
Love always,
Your friend