With social media continually becoming more and more popular, so are new trends. A popular trend going around the app TikTok, is the word “girlhood.” Girlhood is defined as “the state or time of being a girl.” The phrase is mainly used in videos where girls post them and their childhood friend reminiscing on how they grew up together and went through girlhood together. 

     My friend Dakota and I have been friends since kindergarten. We were sitting in the reading corner listening to Mrs. Albrecht teach us something. Dakota was sitting next to me and eventually she got called on and had to get up and stand in front of the class and say the answer. I decided then and there that I wanted to be her friend, so once she sat down, I decided to talk to her. After that, we were inseparable for the next two years. We could only hangout in school since it was hard to keep contact outside of school, but we still stayed best friends regardless. 

     During the time of second and third grade, we grew distant since we did not have any classes with each other and made new friends to hangout with during recess. In fourth grade, we were in the same class again. It took a few days or even a few weeks, but eventually we grew close again and were once more best friends. Throughout our elementary and early middle school years, we fought often and had trouble understanding each other. For a short period of time we both thought we were going to stop being friends. We decided to push through and try to stay friends and luckily, we did. As we grew up and became more mature, we learned when to back off when one of us were in a mood or if one of us did not have the same amount of energy as the other. Obviously as young girls, that was difficult, and even now, it still can be hard at times. 

     When we got to middle school, I was normally busy and even though we had a fine amount of classes together in sixth and seventh grade, we did not have many in eighth. Since we were always in the same class since fourth and spent all of our time on the phone or hanging out together, the separation was odd and was an adjustment that took time for us to get used to. The time apart was initially hard and did cause arguments with mainly me being at fault, since I never had time to see her. Although, as time went on we finally figured out that the time we could not see each other was healthy and let us make new friends and find ourselves as individuals. This period of time taught us that being best friends does not mean we have to spend every waking moment together to have a healthy friendship.

     As we transitioned into high school, there were some bumps along the way, but nevertheless, we worked through it and now our friendship is the best it has ever been. Being able to have a bond like we have is a privilege I hope everyone gets to experience sometime in their life. I am forever grateful I got to experience and am still experiencing girlhood with a person like her.