Friends Are A Saving Grace

Ever since I was a little girl I've always had many friends. I've always been that social butterfly that just got along with everyone. I rarely met someone I didn't like or who didn't like me. My cousins Mia (on the left in the photo at the bottom) and Gunnar (on the right at the photo at the bottom) were really my first true friends. As they would be for any only child. Mia was the only person who had actually seem what I went through when my parents got divorced. she had seen the nightmares, the panic attacks, the crying, the fighting, and much more.

 

Over time however my uncle and my mom began to fight. Soon enough my only friends were taken away from me. The two people I loved the most in this world taken away. If it wasn't for years of Mia and I writing letter back and forth I might not of ever seen her again. But luckily meanwhile I wasn't completely alone. I had started second grade at a charter school called Edu-Prize. I had been on a waiting list all summer and it wasn't till the very first day of school did my mom get the call saying I was in. That school was where I learned a lot of things about people and myself.

The school was a great place and I so many amazing teachers along the way. I connected with so many people and wound up having many friends. It was as if almost everyone knew or heard of me. In the second grade was where I met two of my very first best friends at that school. Jordan (The girl on the left in the picture at the bottom) and Walter (sadly I don't have a picture of me and Walter). The three of us were inseparable. We even did a dance to That So Raven's theme song (because at the time that was cool). But sadly when the end of the year came Jordan and Walter broke the news to me that they were moving. Both my best friends at the same time decided to leave, I was simply put heart broken.

Then third grade started and came along two new best friends. Christiana (the girl on the right in the picture below) and Banner (again I don't have a picture with him). Christiana had just moved from California and she was so imaginative I just couldn't help but be best friends with her. Everyday at recess there was always a new story for us to act out or pretend. A new way for us to get closer. Now Banner on the other hand was a little different. He was able to get along better with the more mature and practical side of me. We had mature conversations as we sat on the swings together and discussed the way we wanted things to play out in life, Over time I began to have a huge crush on Banner and strangely he returned the feelings. Sadly however at the end of the year my heart was broken again. Banner had to move luckily though it wasn't the same as before. I had Christiana with me.

It wasn't till sixth grade did I get a group of three friends again. The small group was made up of my friend Empriss (the girl on the right in the picture on the bottom below), who I actually met in fifth grade, my friend Kayleigh (the girl on the left in the top picture below), and myself. Now Kayleigh was a year younger then Empriss and I but that didn't matter. We were all still just as close as any sisters would be. Empriss and I truly did have an unbreakable bond. we were really close but Kayleigh and I were sisters separated at birth basically. The three of us were like the three musketeers. Everyone knew us. I never knew we were popular though. The thought never crossed my mind. I always pictured us as the annoying kids not the popular kids, But apparently we were. It was a change and this time no one left anyone. We were all here together.

Moving on to seventh grade was hard because only Empriss and I were moving up. Kayleigh had to start her sixth grade year. Empriss and I stayed close of course and for a while we kind of just floated around from group to group then second quarter came and Empriss dropped a bomb on me. She told me her parents were moving far away and she needed to change schools. I actually broke down crying at school. I just couldn't handle having to do this new year all by myself. So I floated more and I searched for new friends as Empriss took care of business with getting transcripts and saying her goodbyes.

I decided one day at lunch, when Empriss wasn't there and I was tired of floating, to sit with these two girls. Chandler (the girl in the picture on the right) and Katie (the girl in the picture on the left). They were what I would've considered at the time popular kids. I didn't think anything would come out of it but in the end the three of us be came the closest of friends. Not many people liked Katie and Chandler though I soon came to realize and I also soon came to realize why. I loved these girls but they were liars and backstabbers and only protected each other. I never regretted out friendships and I stayed friends with them but as soon as eighth grade year came around I made it my mission to find new friends yet again.

Eighth grade year was one of my favorite years when it came to friends because I was able to be friends with pretty much everyone. I didn't have Katie and Chandler holding me back and people thinking I was like them. I was able to basically be apart of every group but there was two girls that meant the world to me and ended up still being two of my closest friends to this day. Lyndsay (the girl on the left in the picture below) and Elysia (the girl on the right in the picture below) ended up being my soul mates in a way. They pulled me out of my shell and into a place I had never been before. This friendship was one of my longest friendships truthfully.

Lyndsay, Elysia, and I spent almost every day with each other and then when school ended we spent almost every weekend together over the break. Sometimes it would be really hard for me to see them since they lived an hour away since I had moved a month before eighth grade graduation. But we kept it together we saw each other as much as we could. The three of us knew every little thing about each other and we had hard times oh lord did we have hard times but we always got through it at the end of the day. Even when freshmen year came around I felt so secure in our friendships that when that year came along I was content with just being apart of a big group of friends. Which again are friends I am still very close with to this day. Sadly when freshmen year was starting to come to an end and so much drama was going on I barely had anytime to see the girls so we slowly split into just good friends and then friends. But it was okay. We had a crazy ride and that's what life is all about.

When the summer between freshmen year and sophomore year started I was looking for something new. Not something I would've normally been apart of. So I joined church. I ended up going to this church's camp and the experience changed my life and a long the way I made four amazing best friends but only two of them truly mattered and that was Emily (the girl on the left in the picture below) and Dara (the girl in the middle in the picture below). They were amazing and cared for me and showed me the light of God. A light I once had a long long time ago but lost. The showed me I was never alone and even though I rarely see them anymore they still remind me every now and then I'm never alone. I am beyond thankful for God putting them in my life.

Now to be completely honest my Freshmen and Sophomore years were my favorite years ever. I didn't feel the need to have two specific best friends. I had many friends in either one big group or a couple small groups and that was completely okay. My friends were all so different in their own ways I loved every single one of them. Some how late in my sophomore year the two girls I call my best friends right now wrangled me in to their little group. They had been going through some drama that made them lose a lot of friends and I knew what that was like so I was super glad to be their friend. From that moment on when the three of us walked in the hallways everyone knew who we were. Crystal (the girl on the right in the picture below) the short one everyone loved but hated, Jenna (the girl in the middle in the picture below) the tall one that everyone was terrified of till they actually had a conversation with her, and myself the medium one that was always smiling. I guess in our own way we were kind of popular. But we didn't need popularity we had each other and that was enough,

Now after all these years of noticing this trend of threes in my life I do realize I have more then just three friends. I have so many very close friends that I've collected over the years that each one would be a story on it's own. I give so much thanks to these people two for being here with me. So thank you Amanda, Keanna, Kelsey, Nicole, Ashley, Kevin, Kiena, Spencer, Alex, Whitley, Lexia, Sarah, Stacy, Liam, John, JJ, Tiara, Wesley, and so many more people. Thank you for being my friend.