Freshman year of college, I met Kate.
She was not my roommate, but a friend down the hall in the same building as me. A new friend of mine on the second day of college invited her, her roommate, and me along for breakfast. And just like that, a friendship started between all of us. And soon, that friendship will be stretching from two opposite sides of the country.
This is my goodbye to my roommate.
Sophomore of college all six of us girls had chosen to live in a dorm together. Three rooms, two in each. I hadn't roomed specifically with her, but we all consider each other roommates because we all, of course, live together and share the same living space. Kate lived a door down from me.
Over the last nearly two years of knowing each other, we've gotten extremely close. Freshman year of college we went to all of our friend's shows and performances because we were the only two who weren't in any form of a production. On weekends when all our friends were busy with their rehearsals, we hung out. When there wasn't much to do, we would just hang around and talk. It was always about the most interesting things, such as life.
The best memory I have of her is the first day she saw snow. Being from California, she hadn't seen it before. I remember her screaming about how beautiful the snow was, while the rest of us looked at our dear friend as if she had grown three heads. We were used to snow, and seeing her get so excited was baffling. If anything, all of us oppose snow except Kate. But since we cared about her and her happiness we agreed to go outside in the snow and allow her to experience the snow she considered to be amazing and beautiful. It was the moment where she picked up the snow and witnessed all the things snow is, did I realize how purely good she was as a person.
She really showed me that the littlest things in life bring the greatest joys.
And I'm saying goodbye to her as she moves back for the rest of the year.
Due to reasons, she made the decision to go home for the spring semester but promised she would be back for the start of our junior year. We all wanted to graduate together, and no one was backing out of that.
However, her decision to go back to California really opened my eyes. My friend is one of the selfless people I know, and also one of the kindest. She lights up a room and can make anyone laugh who is feeling down. She's realistic but also optimistic, and I never realized how important it is to have both. And for all of the spring semester, I won't have her physically here to remind me.
As sad as it makes me, and brings tears to my eyes even as I write this, I will really miss her. I will miss the laughter, the hugs, and the amazing memories we shared. However, once she comes back to the east coast, she will be getting the biggest greeting of all time. Because friendship stays the same, even with 2,884.4 miles.
This isn't entirely a goodbye. This is just a goodbye for now.
