Throughout your life, you’ll have many different friends.

I have been fortunate enough to call a group of 7 girls my best friends since I was 11 years old. Tess, Sabrina, Grace, Katherine, Olivia J., Shoshi, and I make up “The Cheezit Squad.” The Cheezit Squad is exactly what you would imagine. The cringe middle school girl group of your dreams (or worst nightmare), that branched out in high school, and now as sophomores in college are finding our way back home. 

Each of these girls and I have a different story. A different relationship. A different invisible string that brought us together. I’ve learned a different lesson from each girl that has shaped me into the person I am today. My mom has always said that the bond we share is different than other friends, and for the longest time I shrugged it off. It wasn’t until I moved into college, moved back home, and went away again that I realized how truly special this bond is. Do not get me wrong, I have amazing friends here at school, but there’s something calming about being with people who watched you grow up, they’ve slept in your childhood bedroom, met your parents, and been picked up by older siblings in your pre-driving days. You don’t have to explain yourself to them because they just get it. While I can always rely on my amazing friends here at Pitt, these are the girls whose advice I never forget because they have watched me grow. When I’m having the worst Sunday scaries, I call them, and they remind me who I am. 

I don’t know who I would be without these girls. True friends are the ones who have seen you grow, and don’t define you by who you were in past phases of your life. They see you where you are now, and remember who you used to be. I’ve always been someone begging to leave my hometown, and I did. I am so glad that I got out. But, I always find myself coming back to the people I call home. Going back to the people who have never let me down. Who has been there for every experimental play I did, waiting with flowers. Who has asked every guy I’ve ever dated what his shoe size is. Who were there when I went through my first breakup, my first college rejection. When you’ve seen someone with braces and a side part, you can’t help but cry when you watch them walk across the stage at graduation. You can’t help but marvel at how far they’ve come when you know everything that they’ve fought to be there. Maybe we’re so close because we’ve known each other for so long, but I’d argue that these are good friends. These are good people. This is what home is to me.