A Million Little Things

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things.  ~Author Unknown


     So I've been doing a lot of thinking today about the past and the people who have always been there. Looking back, there is one person that no matter what has always stuck by me. I don't know why you did it, Rachel, but this one's for you.
     Rachel and I became friends when I started at GICC. I was friends with her friends, so we were basically friends by association. As the years went on, our group of 4 started to change. Sarah changed schools and Tiffany found a new best friend in Heather. With these changes occurring in the same year, Rachel and I were thrown together. Despite the fact that I tried to get rid of her all the time(sorry), she still hung out with me. I was as mean as I could possibly be to her when I didn't want her around but sucked up a lot when I did. Seriously, I was like the world's worst friend. Our friendship was on and off for the duration of our sophomore and junior years. Senior year came around, and Rachel and I started to grow apart. It looked to be the end of an era. But, as graduation grew nearer, we started to talk again.
     I went to Europe for 10 days at the beginning of the summer. When I came back, I started to talk to Rachel. At first, it was because I was bored, and talking to her was something I was used to doing. I hung out with her, because I needed something to do. Things started to change, though. I realized that I actually liked spending time with Rachel. I started to trust her, and we had a lot of fun. By the end of the summer, I was spending almost every day with her. I told her the dark secrets of my past, and she confided things in me. We learned that we had a lot in common, and that we could be as weird as we could imagine being and still seem normal to the other. I could go over to her house looking like crap because I'd just gotten off work, and I knew she wouldn't care. (I like how it was always her house, never mine. I guess it's cause her house was way more fun :P) We started to change each other, too. I brought out the rebel in her, and she brought out the fun side in me. Sure, we had our little fights, but we got over them pretty fast. College was looming over our heads, however, and we knew that soon we'd be leaving three hours apart. We had had literally the greatest summer ever, and it was ending all too quickly.
     Near the beginning of August, a rock was thrown in our path. A friend we had shared over the course of the summer (the one that, with whom we were the Three Musketeers) suddenly wasn't there anymore. He stopped talking to the two of us, and it was all my fault. I thought for sure she would blame me, and our friendship would be over. Luckily, it ended up bringing us closer together. We bonded over our anger and pain.
     As the school year went on, it became apparent that maintaining a friendship from halfway across the state, while on completely different schedules was hard. The texts began to come less often, and it seemed what we'd feared had become a reality. Weirdly enough, even though we only talk a few times a week, I still consider her one of my closest friends. We may not talk as often as good friends, but that doesn't mean we aren't. I know that I can text her whenever I need to talk to someone or need some advice, and she can do the same with me.
     My point through all this is that some friendships can face any test and come through it. Some people are meant to be a part of your present. No matter how many times I tried to get rid of her, she was still right there waiting for me to come back. I guess our friendship was just meant to be. Things have changed a lot since eighth grade, but Rachel has always been there. This friendship hasn't been easy, and at times, hasn't been fun. But, for me at least, it has definitely been worth it.


Anyway, I found some cool quotes (I'm on a quote kick today because I'm not creative):
The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.  ~Elisabeth Foley
A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.  ~Lois Wyse
Friends are relatives you make for yourself.  ~Eustache Deschamps
Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive.  ~Anäis Nin