Lessons Learned Through Friendship

“Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.”
-- Unknown

Friendships, they are a hard thing to sustain these days. Since I was young, I didn’t ever claim to have too many friends, I seemed to just have different friends for a different reason or season.  In middle school, when I was going through that transition of acceptance and determining who I was, I learned really all were not as trustworthy as they used to be when we were little, it could be because of jealousy, envy or insecurities, who knows.  Many considered me popular in high school, but I never thought of myself that way, I just knew a lot of people. During my 3rd year in college, I learned a valuable lesson about friendships; you have to treat them just as a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. You have to make time for one another, consider the others feelings, and just listen!

My first three weeks in college, I really didn’t have any girl friends, but I did have plenty of guy friends. My roommate was cool, but we just did not have too much in common. I was really lucky to make friends with Dawn; we met in one of our classes through the ExSEL program.  Dawn and I has so much fun together our first two and a half years at Tech. That was until we lived together! Some people can live with their close friends, but I found out really quick that I can’t! I sometimes need a break from people, but the mistake I made was retreaving to my boyfriend, rather than talking to her about what I needed. Now, we barely even speak despite me really loving her like a sister. I learned that sometimes you just can’t go back to the way things are. 

A high school birthday party, 2001

My best friend Radayl (he’s dressed for a costume party) and I, 2007.

This is Dawn, a then very close college friend of mine and her roommate Kelly, off to a date function.

My two closest friends from high school Steven and Tracy.