Advance Essay #1: Shifting Friendships

Every time I see him I am reminded. She is no longer close. When I look out my back window I am reminded of fun times and no cares in the world.  Each time he walks by a different memory flashes before my eyes but I find one coming back the most, each time more and more vivid. I don't remember how either of them came into my life but I remember them being there. I don't remember all the details of our times together but I remember the important things. The three of us would do everything we could together. Three kids, one back alley, lots of memories.

The one memory that is most vivid was playing in the rain. She and I completed each other’s outfits. I had the pants and no top and she had the top with no pants. He was running around shirtless. We splashed in puddles for hours then went into the alley behind our houses and ran until we could no more. After we were finished running we were hosed down by our parents in the back yard. We were then wrapped in big towels and carried inside the warmth of my house. That is about where my memory of that adventure ends, and I have snippets of many other times together.

Now she is off in the suburbs at a fancy school and he is back and forth between divorced parents’ houses. A friendship we swore would last forever is no more. We thought things would always be the same and never imagined how we would end up going off in different directions.

As children we see the world differently. We often see the world as sparkles and rainbows not realizing the truth of what is happening in front of us. Things that make us happy as children may not make us happy now or we may see a different side to them that we did not before. Your perspective changes as you grow older and learn more things about yourself and the world around you.

Excitement comes in many different ways. New clothes, fun trip, first bicycle, or many other things. Kids are easily excited often by the simplest things.

I remember after she moved away feeling the excitement of going to see her or spending the night over her house. I remember being excited every single time I saw him, my little heart pounding out of my chest. The excitement grew as we grew older and the visits to see her decreased and elementary school started and I would only see him after school.

Each time I saw her we made more memories and had great times leaving me more and more excited to see her again. When she moved the three of us were no more. I still saw them both but they didn't see each other, just the occasional hello when she happened to come to my house instead of me going to hers.

The excitement started to fade as we got older. She stayed where she was but made new friends, her bond growing stronger with them with each growing year as our bond weakened. He moved on from me as we grew older and became more involved with his school and new friends. And now he spends half his time with his father who moved away.  When he is here we still exchange a few words when we cross paths and he isn't sucked into his various activities or groups of friends.

Excitement is always there but fades over time as that thing you onced loved no longer brings that spark of joy to your heart it once did. Excitement will come and go as your interests and friends change. Your interests may change in different directions from others, and if you don't experience a feeling from a certain thing over time the excitement fades until it is stored in the back of your mind as a memory.

When you’re a child you think everything will last forever and things won't change. However, the reality is that most things do and will change over time. What at the time seems like a loss is now a lesson in accepting change as new friendships form and new memories are made. The friendships you create and memories you make will always have a special place in your heart no matter how far apart you and your friends drift or how many new memories you make.