i graduated with my master's last week. my dad and several of my lifelong friends flew up to celebrate me. i showed them around my new city, introduced them to my new friends, and just hung out with the people i love the most. i love my new friends here so dearly, but i'd forgotten what it was like to be surrounded by people i've loved for years, some even decades. i forgot what it was like to be known so truly and deeply by the people around me, to laugh so easily and constantly because they know exactly what i find funniest. i know i'm a closed book a lot of the time and it can be hard to get to know me, so my newer friends haven't gotten to that point yet at no fault of their own, but i didn't know how refreshing it would be to be immersed in such familiarity in my new home. i'm utterly exhausted from the week everyone was here, but i'm so filled with joy and love and i miss everyone greatly already.