College is but another experience that we enter completely and totally unprepared. Really. No matter how much we say, "I am so ready to get out of the house" or "I am so done with high school", college is still something you simply can't understand until you get there. This may sound conceited or arrogant, but I don't mean to make college students sound like they're "cooler" or "more mature". I simply mean that college is an experience one can't truly create a mental image of. Speculating about what will happen to you and your friends is not worth worrying about in high school. There is no way to tell where your lives will lead - so don't waste time worrying!
I have been blessed to meet people here at SLU who are much better people than I deserve to know. People who genuinely know and understand themselves. People who offer me so much by simply being my friend. If that wasn't enough, I still have one of the greatest and most amazing support groups back home. I know I have talked about them countless times, but I would do anything for any one of them. Yes, we slip up, we have times when we prefer not to talk, we even ignore each other sometimes - but at this very moment, I would sacrifice anything and everything for them.
I want to address the fear of growing apart, and say that, well, it is just that - a fear! All you have to do to quell that fear is actively be aware of it. Make it a point to realize your friends are there even if you haven't talked in a week. Make an effort, and I promise it will all work out. We are creatures of habit - we will have our differences, but love in each other and in God will continue to pull us together... and we will be stuck like glue!
One of my friends, who is a couple of years younger than I, is incredibly inspiring to me. He is an amazing example of this. He makes it a point to take the time to let people know that they are always on his mind, especially when he hasn't seen them in a while. He expresses such excitement whenever he gets back together with a friend he hasn't seen in a while. I cannot express in mere words how much I respect him, which is odd, because I used to think of him as bit of a child. Yet people grow right in front of our eyes. I encourage everyone to try to be like him - someone who recognizes the good in everyone, someone who knows that life is for living and not hating. There is a lot to be learned from our friends, and even more to learn from those who we taught in the past. A person who sees people through the eyes of friendship and compassion, and not jealousy or anger, will get a lot more out of life than the rest of us who don't. Still, he, like anyone else, may slip up and go awhile without staying in touch with friends, or even say something or act in a way that totally goes against his normal behavior. And yet - that is okay! Can we really expect each other to be flawless? I always say: do not throw away a lifetime of good memories over a minor dispute. Why is it that one fight overrides countless good memories? Even if a whole year passes with only small talk and text messages, there is still hope - time will go on without us, but memories are our own to keep!
This leads me to my last point: love. That is it: LOVE. With Valentine's Day on the horizon, this should not be hard to understand. We have so little time our lives to do the things we love, so why waste time with anything else? Be with the people you love and love them regardless of - no, because of their flaws. Let them know that maybe things didn't go the way you planned, but there is no point wasting time being angry when it can be better spent utilizing the gifts God gave us, like each other, our families, our memories, or... maybe, just maybe, like JUST DANCE!
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