It is often said that you meet your best friends in college - your future bridesmaids, the godmothers to your future children, the ones you will meet up with time and again post graduation for cocktails and to relive the wild days of staying up way too late, partying way too much, and having more fun than your high school self ever thought possible. If you have found this not to be your experience in college, I sincerely hope that you find this kind of friend-love somewhere in your future. I am fortunate because I have found this kind of bond in the past three years I have been at the University.
Looking back on my first year of college, I realize how lucky I was to meet four of my best friends in Fitzhugh dorm. We did everything together, spending many warm afternoons at the picnic table outside. Everyone had her own place in our close-knit group. Second year, we grew up a little more, moved in together, fought some, and loved a lot. Now we’re in our third year, and time is going too fast. We cling to one another in the face of an unknown future, searching for internships and staying up all night to finish piles of work. These are the moments when I am most thankful for them. They are familiar and comforting. It’s not about the times we have spent going out together (don’t get me wrong—that’s fun too), but our friendship is grounded in something more than that: a mutual need and trust. 
Below is a picture of me and my best friend and roommate, Mattie. In the process of writing this piece, I realized that I don’t have a picture of all of my best friends together. This needs to change; the memory needs to be preserved. Four years hardly seems enough time to “do it all” AND appreciate all of the opportunities we have been given. I suppose that the anxiety of graduating and leaving Charlottesville is intertwined with my love of the friends I have met here. I’m not afraid though—any time we are apart, when we see each other again, things are exactly as they were, as though no time had passed at all. That’s a best friend. If I could end on one final note of dedication to my six closest friends, I would say this: thank you for the time of my life. Here’s to many more years of enjoying your loved, welcomed, and always appreciated company! By Addie Bender. Image source: Karen Blaha - Wikipedia
