I guess if you dont jump, you'll never know if you can fly

I'm writing this post because I'm going home tomorrow and I'm so excited! It's hard to imagine less than 6 months ago I was so excited to leave my hometown and now I'm more excited to go back. Being away from a place I've been my whole life really makes me appreciate it so much more!
This weekend I'm especially excited because my best friend Michelle is going home too. We've been best friends since the age of 5. She goes to school in the Twin Cities so I never really get to see her. This girl is like my sister and we've been through so much together. No one can make me laugh like she does, and we have the best memories of my life. Our families became good friends because of our friendship so we'd always go on vacation together and her parents were basically my 2nd parents. We had cottages up north about a half hour away from eachother so we'd spend our whole summers up north on the lake together. In school we were attached at the hip, took the same classes, and it was never kayla or michelle, it was kayla and michelle, together. We had all the same friends, did the same sports, and even had jobs together. A lot of the underclassman in school actually thought we were sisters. Sure, we got sick of eachother, but our fighting was funny and we never took it seriously. When we chose different colleges people were shocked, but we knew we had to go experience life without eachother and just take separate paths. We needed our own lives, and just to try and see what else there was out there. We found this qoute in a country song, "I guess if you don't jump, you'll never know if you can fly" and we used that to get us through our last summer together, and get us pumped for the world we were about to experience, separately.
I left about a week before Michelle and she came to my house the morning I left and we said our goodbyes. I hadnt cried at all but when we gave eachother one last hug I just broke down! She started to bawl too and we could barely understand what the other was saying, and my mom just laughed saying it wasnt the end of the world, but for us, it was! When I got to Madison, it was extremely hard at first, because when I looked to my side, there was no Michelle. It was just me, and I had to go make friends with just being Kayla. I was independent for the first time in my life and I was seriously like a lost little puppy dog. But eventually I found my way, made new friends, and had a separate life from Michelle. Surprinsingly, we only called eachother maybe once a week if that, for some reason it was easier for me not to talk to her. I felt like I was out of her life, and that she moved on without me. Little did I know she felt the same way about me. It was sad!
I didnt see Michelle after I left for school in August until Thanksgiving. She came home thanksgiving day and I went to her house and she ran out and jumped on me and we spent the whole day together. And even though we jsut spent almost three months apart it was like no time had passed! I was so relieved, we were back to being the old kayla and michelle. Even though we had these separate lives, we were still the same people, and the same friends, and now I really think nothing can change that. We asked eachother why the other didnt call, and we had the same answer, it was just too hard.
Being away from Michelle I really do appreciate her friendship more than ever. No on can even compare to her. The close friends I've made here are great, but they're not michelle. Michelle and I found this quote over break, "the most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart." That fits us perfectly! I'm glad we chose different schools, and I'm glad we're doing our own thing. But i'm also so happy I have her as a best friend, there whenever I need her. And tomororw I get to see her!! :)