4-Ever Friends

Heh heh. See what I did there? With the "4" and the "ever" together? Heh... Ahem. Anyway, it’s the best friends forever chapter! Unless you have some major social issues to sort through, you’ve probably had some people that you could call good friends. This chapter is devoted to those friends of mine who have stayed by my side throughout all the hardships; those relentlessly committed people who stuck it through with me in the end, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish from this day forward. The few, the proud, the Marines… er, friends.
The first people I should note are those of my old school. Douglas, Roland, Micah, Malinee and I were the inseparable vigilantes who stuck it out until 7th Grade. We always stuck together in recess with soccer and Cowboys and Indians. We always had a fun time in the classroom together, making jokes and messing with the computer. If it ever overheated, Doug would turn it off and refuse any requests to use it. “It’s too risky,” he would say. And of course, we all had a special bond brought on by our unbroken commitment to the Lego-Land Law. Heck, they even stuck with me during my “phase” when I was fully convinced I could fly.
But of course, disaster struck when the school closed down. Douglas and Roland went to Wright, and Malinee moved to Colorado. For a while, it was just Micah, me, and Mingo Valley. The events of Mingo are for another time, but I will mention one friend I happened to keep even after my move to Wright. His name was Adam Dwyer. I met him in 8th Grade, because Micah happened to know him from a while back. Adam was probably one of the nicest people I’d met there, and I found it worthwhile to remain friends with him. We were both very interested in videogames (one of my guilty pleasures), and he had an acute interest in Star Wars and Dragonball Z. We’ve been to a lot of places together, including the PAC production of the Phantom of the Opera, currently my all-time favorite musical! Adam and I still hang out occasionally, and I hope to stay friends with him for a long time to come.
Then, of course, I have my friends from church! I’m still good friends with Micah, thanks to the church, and we’re both good friends with Casey Young. We also sometimes hang out with Josh Pittman, whom you may know from our school. Ah, heck with it, you can’t possibly go to this school without knowing Josh. We are also good friends with Alex Meyer, Caitlyn Patterson, and Rachel Patterson, the girls of our youth group. We’re usually the ones that you’d find going to all the youth gatherings and Bible studies.
Sophomore year, I came to Wright and met up with Roland and Doug again. The fearsome foursome has returned! And of course, I met up with some new friends throughout my experience. I’d probably say my first good new friend at Wright was Matt Harader. Somehow, we hit it off really well and hung out all the time. Oddly enough, Matt’s girlfriend was Fiona Lutz whose best friend was Lauren Barger, whom I became a good friend with through completely unrelated circumstances. So, the four of us became really good friends. We went to church together a couple times, and we always stuck together at the retreats. During the summer of sophomore year, we all went to Camp Bristow together and had a great time! We even hung out together during the Junior prom.
I also became good friends with Joseph Rodenbaugh, and I would somehow end up sitting next to him in almost every class. We always talked about what was going on, and our biggest topic of conversation, at least for Junior year, was prom. For the sake of keeping my neck, those conversations will remain secret.
Then came Senior year. Lauren and Fiona had graduated, and Matt left the school due to unforeseen circumstances. So, I started hanging out with other people from my class. I’m still good friends with Joseph and Roland, and I hang out almost every day with Douglas after school. I also had the chance to hang out with Corey more often, and now we’re going to be roommates in college (w00t!). I started hanging out with Tim more often as well, and we became good friends, supported somewhat by our innate interest in the performing arts. Through Tim, I also started becoming really good friends with Deanna, whom I took to the prom this year! We’ve had a really good time together this past semester.
All of these friends, especially in the past three years, have been wonderful. They have all been there for me, and I have tried my best to be there for them as well. This is the reason that graduation comes to me as scary on top of the excitement. My experience with these people has been a blast, and I am not sure who I will have to say goodbye to when the time comes. If graduation does mean goodbye, I will still have the memories, and years later, I still won’t have forgotten a single one of them.