When you’re the only girl in the guy group, you learn a lot. A lot about yourself. A lot about other people. And a lot about things you never even wanted to know about. In high school, I met this weird group of guys who would come to school early just to talk about nothing, eat lunch together only to speak in inside jokes, and play video games on Friday nights.

I could be weird and sarcastic and they would be weird right back. Being surrounded by a bunch of guys, putting up with them every day through high school, trains you to handle anything life throws at you. Here are some of the lesson’s I’ve learned in my life with boys.

1. Saturdays are for the boys.

But they’ll still invite you.

2. Old country music can make any moment better.

If you sing it loud enough.

3. You can have more than one prom date.

Ya girl had three. I know, I’m awesome.

4. Video games are essential.

I don’t understand why, but they are.

5. Sometimes, you’re better as friends.

Crushes happen, but friendships can last longer than relationships.

6. Don’t name the fish you just caught for dinner.

I named her Barbara. Then we had to gut her. I’m still traumatized.

7. Drama is what you make of it.

Seriously, guys have so little drama. They just address the issue and then let it go.

8. Find your people.

Find who you want to be around and stick with them.

9. Guys and girls can be “just friends”.

Believe it or not, guys and girls can be friends and not have any romantic relationship.

10. Poker is a learned skill.

That I suck at.

11. Girls are mean.

And guys are jerks. We’re all just trying to survive.

12. You’ll always have each other.

You may go your separate ways, but you still have your weird inside jokes and memories of a lifetime.

So maybe I never had any romantic relationships in high school and maybe my best friend’s changed and moved and left. But the one thing that I found through all of that was a friendship with some amazing men.

They let me sit with them at lunch when I had nowhere else to go.

They let me make fun of them during math class and taught me how to smoke cigars in the summer.

They were shameless and smart and challenging, but I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

Thanks to the boys who put up with me for all those years. Who taught me how to play poker and video games. Who let me be myself and loved me just the same.