Evolving

Friendships/Texting

I had always believed that the friends I made as a child would stick with me forever. The only friend who stuck with me as a longtime best friend was Aleecia, and after a while, she too disappeared. There were other kids that I were friends with in elementary school, like Chris, who ended up being my friends in high school, but we weren't all super close. Some of the biggest ties connecting a lot of us were our years in the marching band. We had all been together every day of the week for three years in band class as kids, and we all spent every day of the week together for four years in high school band class. We competed together every weekend in the fall in marching band competitions. My senior year I got close to a few unlikely people.
I befriended Whitney, a fellow drum major and the only other one who was a senior; we were the two senior female leaders, and we were expected to lead with grace. I befriended Kane, a junior year drum major who was always a fun time because of his sense of humor. I also befriended Celia, the girl from my past who I had known as this girl who had cheated on Alex. I had always been somewhat nice to all of these people, but I was never as close to them as I was my senior year. We bonded in ways that can't be broken. We had senior marching band parties after every Friday night football game; we'd go to the home of one of the senior members, and everyone would bring snacks and drinks so we had a buffet spread out, and we'd put on music and light a fire outside and sit around the heat and relax, laugh, and unwind. We also had parties with "the girls" as we called them, which was a group of about ten senior females (plus Hannah, our junior friend who was so close to us that we had to include her), and we'd go out to eat or hang out and have bonfires, and we had a group chat that we'd overuse constantly.
After graduation, we all began preparing for college. There were a lot of bonfires and dinner dates still, but they started becoming less frequent. Our group slowly decreased in size. After a few months of "I can't make it!" and "I'm busy, sorry!" texts from most of the people in our group chats, we just started a new one: one that just included Celia, Whitney, Kane and I. We used it almost everyday. I still firmly believe that the bond we share will never be broken, because I to this day text them almost every single day. We still have dinner dates when we can. We still have sleepovers at each other's houses. We still go see movies with each other (we actually saw Conjuring 2 and Finding Dory together when they came out this summer). Celia and I actually applied for jobs together, and we both work together over the summer at the same business. We also have plans to get tattoos together; no, not matching tattoos, because I believe those are tacky, but we want to get our own creative tattoos together.
I think everyone needs to find a group of friends that they trust with their life. When my sister passed this past spring, my best friends were there for me. I hadn't texted them the entire week leading up to the funeral, because I didn't know what to say, but they all texted me on their own every morning to ask if I was alright and how I was feeling. They never asked about my sister, they just wanted to know how I was doing. Once they were able to get me on the phone, they asked about her. They knew I couldn't text it out, I needed to say it out loud. I needed to make it real so I could finally let myself believe it. I will always love my friends for the things that they have done for me; I will love them forever for the fact that I don't have to ask them for help, they just know that I need it and are always going to be there for me.
We don't text every day, of course. Whitney got a job that requires her to work about twelve hours a day and she has a boyfriend, so she doesn't always have time to reply. Kane is preparing for his first year of college, so he doesn't get to reply all the time either. Celia and I both work full time and while we see each other at work, we don't always get to talk. But even if we don't speak for a week, we are still best friends for life. We are still there for each other, and we know that we'll always be there for each other.
Find your friends for life. You'll need them for the trials you'll face.