Friends play an important part in all of our lives, supporting us through the highs and the lows.
Fun fact: My best friend, Lyndsay, and I were both born at the same hospital, less than 24 hours apart. Of course, we didn’t know each other back when we were just lying in the newborn nursery, but we did meet six years later.
I was nervous during my first day of first grade. I was going to a new school, in a new town, where I knew absolutely no one. I entered the room and found my desk—but I realized I didn’t have a chair to sit in. But at that same moment, the girl whose desk was across from mine got up, went over to the stack of chairs, and helped me get one down. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had just met my best friend, the one whom I was going to be spending practically every day with for the next 15 years.
(Disclaimer: Lyndsay says she remembers none of this, but I can promise this is how it happened.)
Lyndsay and I became best friends that year in first grade. We hung out on the monkey bars during recess. We played “dogs” with our other friends, running around barking at each other. We played with our American Girl dolls.
When we later found out both our moms worked at our school, we were thrilled. We started spending every day after school together, eating snacks and running down the hallways.
We grew older, but our friendship only got stronger. We went through elementary, junior high, and high school by each other’s sides through the highs, but also the lows. Lyndsay was the first person I told when I learned in fourth grade that my dad had cancer. In junior high, her family was always so willing to let me come over and eat dinner with them before volleyball and basketball games if my mom had to work. Her family soon became my second family. In high school, whenever I struggled with a problem in my math class, Lyndsay was always there to help me, patiently explaining everything to me.
We didn’t plan to attend the same college, but when we both got scholarships to Ball State, things just fell in place. While we didn’t room together during our freshman year, we still met up every Wednesday evening for dinner. We decided to move off-campus together our sophomore year, and now we’ve even been roommates for three years.
Every friendship is different. Sometimes two people are brought together by unusual circumstances—like bonding over a Spongebob meme or attending school together in a foreign country.
There are also times where individuals are brought together through a shared experience—even if it something unfortunate like an illness.
Many might even find their closest friendships aren’t even with humans—rather with their furry friends.
But sometimes, friendships are difficult. I’ve experienced first-hand when it’s time to let go of a toxic friendship. Sometimes good friends can be hard to find, which is why many young people can experience loneliness.
Last year for Christmas, I gave Lyndsay a sign that now hangs in a hallway in our apartment that says, “Everyone has a friend in each stage of life. But only the lucky ones have the same friend in all stages of life.” I don’t think it has hit me yet that when Lyndsay and I graduate this May, we won’t be together every single day for the first time in nearly 15 years. But I know no matter where life leads us, I will always be able to call Lyndsay my best friend.
