We all start out with certain intentions. We didn’t mean to stay up late watching Game of Thrones and show up late to class the next morning. We meant to send the “I love you” text to our best friend, who said she’d bring the wine, instead of sending it to the new guy in our life. We mean to say “you can crash at my place,” but it comes out “you can prash and my clace.” We mean to write an article one way and then end up having to change the angle at the last minute because of extenuating circumstances. I intended to make this about your stories, not mine.
Sometimes the day starts out rainy and muddy, but then the weather changes all of a sudden to make room for a blue sky. In only two years of college, I’ve learned more about life in this short amount of time than I ever imagined. I learned about people (who are all some level of crazy) and that people make up relationships; not just romantic ones but the regular ones, too. Friendships are relationships too. To be close and keep together, it’s work just like a romantic relationship. It’ll always surprise you how these relationships can change, but each one is a brick in your own road.
This article was supposed to be a list of other people’s stories, but it’s become a little more than that, because half the people I spoke to all had stories that included me too. So I’m not going to leave myself out of this because no one should be left out of friendship.
The Music Men and Women
My brother, Zack, reminded me of this time we had: My best friend and Zack drove up from South Florida to Orlando and crashed in our tiny living room because twin beds for freshmen year aren’t meant for two, despite their title. It was the end of January, so the forty-degree weather was a shock to the system for the three of us, who have lived in the heat all our lives. We drove downtown in our awesome leather jackets to see a rock group, Escape the Fate, at Firestone Live. After nearly getting lost on Orange Blossom Trail, we found our way and got to see the band up close since Firestone is a great intimate venue. We had an amazing time and did it all our on our own for the first time.
Memory from me: I went to Ultra with my best friends here in Orlando. We ended up running into old friends from high school and, feeling the vibe, we spent the second half of the weekend all together. People are full of surprises, and you never know who you can reconnect with in life.
Stress Induced Silliness
From Logan Kriete, UCF ‘12: “Back in sophomore year of high school, our group of friends would always convene in the cafeteria after school ended for the day and hang out while waiting for our parents to pick us up. One particular day, a friend had a very stressful exam before and came to the table and slammed his head down to relieve the stress. After doing so a few times, he got up and woozily stated ‘I can’t hear with my feet anymore.’ The absolute inanity of that statement (since you can never hear with your feet to begin with) stuck with us and we were howling with laughter; since then, ‘Can you hear with your feet?’ has become an oft-repeated question among our group.”
Straight From the Heart
From Justin and Jason Roeder, FIU ’14: “When we first met Nick, he had just broken up with his girlfriend, but it killed him inside; he was in love with her. He became very depressed and just needed someone to help him through it, always telling me how much he missed her. My brother and I were always there for him to talk or chill. He said we ‘kept him sane.’ We chilled with him all the time, and since we helped so much on trying to be happy, we became best friends. We get along so well that we are still best friends to this day. In the end, we’re glad that we had such an impact on his life because he is now married to the woman who caused this to happen to him. They are now one of the happiest couples I’ve ever seen. The love they have for each other is unbreakable. This marriage fits perfectly into the saying ‘till death do us part.’”
The Rituals
From Alyssa Mandel, UCF ‘13: “My roommates and I used to have weekly dinners. We would catch up and it was just a time for us to have fun and not worry about school. We made pizza and that was fun because we didn’t know how they would turn out because we didn’t have the right type of pan so we just winged it.” How did it turn out? “Great, a little deformed but it tasted good.”
Wild Rides on the Islands
From Sami Glosser, FSU ’15, also my neighbor back home: Sami reminded me of when she came to visit me in Orlando, and “we saw those amazing singers/guitar players at that restaurant,” she said, and meant Houlihan’s on University Drive. “I actually found a voice memo I recorded of them playing on my phone the other day. Oh, and HARRY POTTER WORLD, DUH,” she said. We went to Islands of Adventure, so Sami the crazy HP fan could really walk down Diagon Alley.
We all have our moments.