Friends

For most people, time is worthless. It is something that comes and goes, and it doesn’t ever seem to be in short supply. But as time goes on, we start to value it a lot more, beyond comparison from maybe just a few years back. When you are young, time is something that you see on a clock. However, time to someone of older age is remarkably different; to them time is a golden blessing, and ever moment must be cherished at it may never come again.

Years back, around thirteen years old, I was rather shy and timid. I was the quiet one in the back of the class, who had all the answers but never raised their hand, in fear of being wrong. I always got the grades, but I wasn’t ever very happy. But someone came along, who gave me my first look into what life really is. She showed me that life isn’t about grades and being good all the time. I still to this day don’t know why I ever even deserved someone like her to be my friend. Sure, I had other friends, but she was something more. She was a true friend, someone who you don’t have to put of a show for. This was different, it was something more, she was my best friend. She was the first person to ever really like me, and to let me know. She signed my elementary yearbook, with a heart and her phone number. I never really gathered the courage to call it, even though I wanted to so bad. I wanted to tell her how much she meant to me, but I didn’t. She seemed far too nice compared to anyone I ever knew then. I am not proud when I say that I thought she was playing me. I thought it was maybe her and a friend playing a game with the quiet kid’s mind. But it wasn’t. During the beginning of our first middle school days, she announced she was moving that day, off to Chicago. She said her father got a job offer there, and they needed the money. That day, in front of everyone in the hallway, she gave me a hug and a slight peck on the cheek. She told me to never change for the worse, and always be true. It was then that she laid it on hard- I was in for it bad. She told me if she could get a hold of me, she would give me her phone number in Chicago. But the thing was, is that she didn’t know my number. It was because I never gathered the courage to call her that I don’t still know her today. I desperately raced home to call her, but it was too late. Her phone number was already disconnected.

For the longest time, I beat myself over it. But when it came down to it, I decided to never let it happen again. When I get a girls number, I call it. When I get my best friends number, whether it be a guy or not, I call it. This doesn’t only apply to someone you want to date, it can apply to any one of your friends. Don’t let go of your friends, because you don’t know how much they really mean to you until they leave you. Whether they be moving away, or you simply lose touch- be the best friend you can be. Those once countless minutes of time you thought you'd share with them all suddenly vanish. All the time were you were counting on to "get around to calling them" never come. If you don’t hold on tight, they will almost always fade into the darkness beyond what you can see. The only thing worse then being lonely is being lonely when you could have done something about it.