Many say that I should be sad and scared. A couple of years ago I would agree with them. Now I would tell them that I'm glad and that I'm ready to go.

I ran into some friends the other night in a trendy night spot that shall remain nameless. I had not seen them in a while. We have been friends since the start and I have often considered them family. Both told me that they did not want this year to end. They wanted this to last forever.

You see this is our last semester as undergrads. After May we go our separate ways and begin our lives. One is going to Med school, Congratulations!, close to home. Another is going to work in Chicago. I'm the big loser of the group. I don't have a job, let alone an idea of what I want to do in the future. But even then, I'm ready to go on.

Someone told me some time ago that these are the best years of my life. How do they know? I plan to have a family, a nice house and a job. Why keep living if these are the best years and everything after is downhill? When we look ahead, we often look at the next couple of months. I like to look years ahead. I'm not that worried about where I'm going to live. I'm more worried about my health in five years. Will I be happy with my job?, with my life?

I know that leaving this place will be hard. It's hard enough during breaks. This place really grows on you. After three and a half years of living here one ends up calling it home. My sisters give me a hard time when I do call it home.

When I do go home, home home, I'll call some of my friends and hang out with them. When I'm home, it feels that time stood still for us. Not so much stood still as it froze entirely. It's like we never left and that graduation was a couple of days ago. I'm sure that this has happened to you.

So to all of you that are still reading and I commend you for that know that after you leave, your friends will always be there. Five years can pass before you run into a friend. By then who knows what has changed. Family, kids, travel, a job might now be a part of the picture. You'll talk. You'll laugh. You'll exchange pictures, email addresses, phone numbers so that you can get in touch next time you are in town, stories about how little Joey began soccer. Your only limit is time.

Time rules our lives, there is no way of getting out of that one. The one thing it does not rule is a true friendship. So to all you seniors out there: Don't be sad. It's all good. So what if we might have wrinkles on our face the next time we see each other. The most important thing is that our friendship is alive and kicking like the last time we saw each other.

• Senior words of wisdom