Being in your 20s is great: college is a blast, and not being hungover is wonderful, but man, having your life constantly in flux isn’t ideal.
I want to talk about that last part a bit, specifically, something I feel I never really hear. I am lucky enough to have some incredible people in my life, but it feels with each passing year, fewer of them are physically in my life. Most of this is just due to my college friends graduating or transferring away.
My closest friend from my freshman and sophomore years of college transferred last year, and he made a surprise visit a few weeks ago. We had an incredible time (along with our other best friend Dimitri) like he never left, but he said something that really stuck with me.
“This is probably the last time the three of us will be together until one of us gets married.”
And the sad part is that’s 100% correct. And unless any of us plan on being J Lo (I cannot believe she’s been married four times), that’s only three more times the three of us will be together.
The same thing goes romantically as well with a partner. I have no idea what my future will hold for me once I graduate. I plan on working in sports media covering hockey, but I have no idea where that will land me.
It feels irresponsible in a way to try and start anything when I have no idea if we will be in the same city come this time next year.
Maggie Rogers has a phenomenal song, Don’t Forget Me, that is currently my most-played song of all time. It dives into the modern situationship that seems to be plaguing so many in their 20s. I don’t know if that will just be what life is, but I am ready for some stability in my life.
I only have one year left of school and I feel like I am in a weird limbo spot with it all. I know I need to enjoy every day (I am certainly doing that), but there is a weird internal governor when there is a big chance I won’t be in Pittsburgh for long.
This is the first time since 2018 that I am not packing up my life to move, but I know I will most likely be making a massive move in the near future. It almost feels wrong (I know it isn’t) to build and start new relationships here. That I am cheating these people I care about because I can’t be there forever.
My old roommate and best friend Rory (I need to call you this week, sorry) had a saying that I tell everyone.
“You have friends for a reason, friends for a season, and friends for a lifetime.”
I try to not feel like a failure when these friendships don’t last a lifetime, but this is just an unfortunate part of life. Something I wish wasn’t true.
Now I am terrible at keeping in contact with my friends, and if you are one of my friends reading this, thank you and I am sorry for being a ghost recently. I have been thinking about this topic for a while now, and I know if falls on me to keep these relationships going.
I know that just because these relationships aren’t what they used to be, doesn’t mean that they failed. I am trying to tell myself (and believe it) that this is normal. That no matter what, ourselves and the people in our lives grow and move.
That is the beauty of social media today. I can stay in the loop with my friends, and I know they do the same. Nothing means more to me than getting a text or DM with someone checking in on how I am doing, and seeing that they are keeping up as well.
This is a big reason I am going on my cross-country trip. I am seeing so many of my friends that are littered across the map, and that is something that means so much to me. And while I cannot see everyone, I can at least try and make some more memories before the wedding invitations begin to show up.