Graduation can kill

During the high school and college years, many women (as well as men) develop close relationships with roommates or classmates that they expect will last a lifetime.

Students are thrown together in dorms, lounges and classrooms. Being in the same place at the same time, they find they have much in common---regardless of their diverse backgrounds. They forge new friendships on soccer teams, in drama clubs, and in campus newsrooms.

In his article Friends – Will I Really Be There for You?, Michael S. Borress, managing editor of the Binghamton University student newspaper, Pipe Dream, points out that Graduation Day often marks the unexpected death of many of these friendships.

The same theme is echoed in a recent commentary in the Wall Street Journal, Growing Apart from Old Buddies, by Emily Meehan. The journalist suggests that when different social, career and geographic paths are followed after Graduation Day, close friends often go off in different directions.

As women leave school and get serious about the business of achieving emotional and financial independence, they have have less time to nurture friendships they once cherished. Clearly, maintaining friendships after graduation takes time and effort. What has been your experience?