An Ode to My Friends

I quite often remark how there is nothing that I value more than my friendships. The time we spend talking on the phone when we could have been diligently working, running into a strong embrace after a mere week apart, or on the contrary, wiping away strong, wet, ‘goodbye’ tears before my older friends go off to college. During the summer of my sophomore year of high school, I spent almost zero nights at home, attempting to optimize the amount of laughter I could fit into 104 days. Many things remind me how lucky I am to have such beautiful bonds with such amazing people. Like, on my sixteenth birthday at the end of the infamous sophomore summer, I received one of the most heartfelt letters from one of my male friends whom I would have never thought would have expressed himself in such a way that would have me sobbing in my friend’s arms by the second line. By the end of the triple-sided confetti-lined card the sleeves of her forest green Scuffers hoodie were soaked and I was out of tears. I was stunned that a singular person, who was not related to me, was able to care that much about me.