Things I Realized During My Weekends Away

Things were really hectic for me over winter break; Christmas always is. I have about a million Christmases to attend and it proves to be absolutely exhausting. I'm so very thankful for my family and the time we get to spend together but by the end of it all I don't really feel like celebreating anymore.

By the end of the holidays I came back to my own house for school. I still had a couple weeks before classes started but I had plans to fulfill. I went to Kansas City with one of my roommates to go see some (guy) friends. We ate delicious food and went to a museum and some other really neat places that us girls had never experienced. We walked and talked and window shopped and forgot the rest of the world existed. We were in our own little world having a blast and a half.

Us girls went to stay with my cousin that night and giggled the whole night until we passed out from sheer exhaustion. It was just us two back at our house for New Years. We painted and drank sparkling grape juice and played water pong for entertainment. It was a simple night in but it was one of my favorite nights as we sang along to Moana and were in bed by midnight.

A couple weeks after, my roommate went home and the boys and myself followed her to Saint Louis a couple days later. We again walked and talked and window shopped and went to The City Museum and released our inner 12 year old selves. Our movie night was the perfect way to end the day as we didn't have any energy left anyway. We all sunk into the couch and watched as Burlesque danced across the screen.

I used to think you had to do some big extravagant thing to have as much fun as we had on these weekend getaways. Now after experiencing it first hand I know that the only thing you need is good company. The majority of the time we were just making fun of each other (mostly me) and talking about irrelevant things that I don't even remember anymore but I do remember we laughed entirely too much.

As I sit here and write this now I get to look back and relive those tiny adventures again and I think to myself that there was no better way to end break. In high school we thought that the way to have fun was to go drink in the middle of a field somewhere. Freshman year of college was to go drink at a frat house but now in my last semester of junior year my greatest memories have nothing to do with drinking except maybe a glass of wine or two.

I've realized what it means to be a true friend and to have true friends. I've loved hard and learned from mistakes but I love my best friends more than anything else and don't consider them a mistake at all. Sure, we fight and bicker and have times where the tension in the air makes others scream and run the opposite direction but in the end we come out stronger than ever and have wonderful memories together like killing our knees on the bars at The City Museum.

I can honestly say that I don't know who or where I would be without the friends that I have now. They have held me while I cried and loved me when I felt unlovable. My roommates and I have only known each other for about 3 years now but I fully intend on having them in my life forever. Senior year is going to suck as we go our separate ways and leave this house we live in. I will miss having them by my side every day and after graduation...I don't even want to think about it.

Dressing up to twin has become a favorite tradition. Their laughs have become some of my favorite sounds and running into each other's rooms for random hugs has become one of my favorite times of the day. Driving just to get away for a while and screaming out the stress will not be the same without them by my side.

Oh, and if the boys are reading this, you guys are cool too, I guess. ;)