The Test of Time

Ah, that all too familiar depressing feeling when you've been excited for an event for such a long time that then comes and goes in a flash - yep, our graduation party finally happened and it was every bit as perfect as it should have been. Suffice to say that five of the seven of us graduating was reason enough to celebrate although we did veer slightly away from tradition as the other two took it upon themselves to organise the whole thing for us. And they pulled off such a fab job! I can't even explain how beautifully they set everything up (it was very pinterest/tumblr-esque) - credit to them for giving us such a lovely day and for being such amazing hosts (I seriously think party planning is the route they need to take...)

You know, half the fun was in buying everybody's gifts and wrapping them so they look super pretty, then watching their priceless reaction as they open it. The other half was in spending five hours just talking and catching up, eating, and admiring gifts which in all honesty, was worth every second. When you don't see each other in a while, those small things become everything.

I can't believe we've reached this moment in time. I have literally grown up with these guys - I've known them since we were eleven, some since we were five - and to still have them in my life is a blessing beyond recognition. We've been through absolutely everything together: from breaking the throes of high school to supporting one another despite the different paths we've taken since; from wreaking havoc in Arabic lessons to making an epic history film that should have received a BAFTA; from divulging our crushes to sharing excruciatingly painful embarrassing moments; from doing one another's homework to playing football in the school cage with a broken plastic bottle; from racing in the Maths classroom to recording "Smack That" under the table in that Art lesson; from the blissful highs to the horrible lows...our friendship has seen it all. And we're still here. Over ten years later, we still get together, and we still have fun, and nothing has changed though everything has changed, and we're watching one another step into adulthood to embrace the bigger challenges that life hands.

My high school friends are my sisters, my absolute best friends in the whole world and I don't need to talk to them daily or see them on a regular basis to know that. They're there - they always will be. And I know how unbelievably lucky and blessed I am to have the most beautiful friendship that life can possibly give you, with six of the most amazing girls I have ever had the pleasure to know.

Friends drift. Friends forget. Friends lose touch. There are fights and fall outs and flames as friendships go up in smoke. There are friends who will forget your birthday, or who will make their words weigh more than their actions, or who will casually slip away when it gets too hard. Others will post your card through the letterbox at 9am on May 19th year after year because it's tradition, and they'll come home to pay their respects when you lose a loved one, and they'll be there for all your big, life-changing moments. They will tell you when you're wrong and they'll make you want to be a better person and they will support you, come rain or shine. It could all go to hell and back, and still stand the test of time. Some people search for friends like that their whole life; I guess I got pretty lucky when I was gifted with mine.