“You’re a truue-ue-ue-ueeee friend, you’re here till the end” was my bop at age eight. Teen pop sensation Hannah Montana seemed to have it all figured out, and I belted her lyrics until my ears got sick of listening to my tone deaf voice. Yet sweet little elementary school me didn’t have a clue what a true friend was at that point my life. But does college me know either?
All my life I feel like I’ve been on the constant search for my best friend. I grew up watching dynamic duos on Disney Channel take over the world with the power of friendship. Who wasn’t searching for the Lily to their Miley or the Alex to their Harper? I began to feel lonely when I entered school each year without that one true soul mate to conquire the world with.
So I did as any confused tween would do; hop between friend groups until I found my BFF. It seemed like at the beginning of each school year I seeked out new friends, and at the end, I was ready to move on. This constant cycle remained all throughout my K-12 years and I came to the conclusion that these characters I grew up watching on TV were just that; fictional characters.
Did best friends really exist? Are there really people out there that put their friends before themselves? Was I ever going to find that girl (or girls) that were there for me no matter what?
The answer? Heck yes. After a rocky start to college, I thought I was destined to fall back into my routine of finding new friends every semester. Then something magical happened. Er, lemme tone that down a bit. There was no “wow” moment where my fairy godmother waved her wand and granted me my very own life-size BFF, yet there was a moment in my heart that made me realize these friendships are possible.
I took a step back and looked at all my years of friendships with all of the groups I weaved between. While reflecting, I was able to see the positives and negatives and create a picture in my head of this “True Friend” that Hannah Montana preached about. In that moment, I was able to open my eyes and look right in front of me at three lovely ladies that have shown nothing but love an support since meeting them this past year. No, it’s not quite that one true pair of an insperable duo, but I think this killer quartet is at least four times better ;).
Here’s to the many years of very strange friendships that are put in the past. Cheers to the future of gal pals being nothing but supportive, because no one hypes you up better than a girl that believes in your dreams.
Maybe Hannah knew what she was talking about all along, although changing “friend” to “friends” would be a perfect adjustment to her song.