I spent a lot of my life moving around from house to house, school to school. It wasn’t so much moving from house to house that was the issue; what really left a mark was the friends I left behind. I found myself giving up.
Who needs friends anyway if I was to be moving away in a few months?
The thing was, I always believed people would leave, or more importantly that I would leave. As a kid, my parents never really saw the importance of having play dates with the kids in my class. Sleepovers were never allowed and after-school activities never crossed their mind. I don’t blame them, of course, my parents couldn’t understand the meaning of friends when they were raised with the thought of family relations as the top, and only, priority.
The friends I did make in every school, before having to move, never were more than just recess buddies.
By the time high school hit, my family took a break from moving around but it was too late. Yes, I made friends but there was a lot of catching up to do. Everywhere I looked, kids were hanging out with people they had known for years. The relationship they had with each other was something I could never catch up to.
I failed in forming the bond that made this thing called “friendship.”
As high school came and went, I did try keeping in touch with some of my friends but things drifted apart. It was not until college that I realized it was time to stop being a pathetic loner. It was time to make some memories with people besides my parents.
It was time to find people I actually connected with rather than were forced to be around.
I guess what motivated me was the fact that being alone at home was taking a toll on my mind. The anxiety of staring at the same red walls in my room was getting to me. I needed to become social.
It did take some time to meet people I genuinely love being around but goddamn does it feel good to be where I am now.
Let me just say, the girls I have met in my college are the same girls that are going to be in my wedding and the godmothers to my children. The right friends are the ones you can tell anything to, the ones you can put your trust in.
The friends I have made are a blessing.
You see, college gave me more than just friends, it gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted without having authoritative parenting tactics over my shoulder. I was free to believe in what I wanted to believe, hang out with people I wanted to hang out with, and share my opinions with people who would agree or disagree with me without getting offended.
The girls I have met are the ones I feel comfortable and happy around. I have finally done what I failed to do for so long, make a connection with people I feel comfortable with.
Friends are the ones that help you through tough times, who get angry and annoyed at you sometimes but could never shut you out for good. Friends stay up until 3 a.m. just to make sure you got home safely after going to a nasty frat party. They are the ones you spend hours with at dinner, laughing over some meme on the internet.
The friends you share a bed with and wake up to vomit all over the bed in the middle of the night because someone had a little too much to drink. The ones you play Mario Kart with and trash talk because hitting their insecurities is the only way to win.
These are the girlfriends I have and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.
