Friends - New & Old

There's just something about the friends that you grew up with. I mean, the first time you ever split up for real is after senior year when you're all going different colleges and universities. Granted, some choose to stay at home and go to a community college or take a year off but for the most part, it's not the same as it used to be. Yet somehow, even though you've made a ton of new friends at school, these new friends could never, ever know you as well as your friends from home. They didn't experience the grade school years with you where all the girls hated all the boys and vice versa, they didn't get you to see you at your awkwardest (I'm not sure if that's a word) in junior high, they didn't see (and even participate in) all those dances, dates, and drama in high school.

As much as I love my friends from Bradley and realize that there is more of a chance that they'll be the ones I keep in touch with after college, I still can't help but feel a sense of loyalty to those from Morton. During my senior year (and even during my freshman year at BU), I really connected with a couple of solid group of people that I love. I got together with some of them last night for dinner in Bloomington and it was so much fun. Even though some of us hadn't seen each other in quite a while, it's like we just picked up where we left off. We've all grown as separate people with different experiences thus far in school but we've all grown together - just in different cities around central Illinois, whether it be Morton, Peoria, Chambana, or Bloomington.

I'm not trying to downplay my friendships at Bradley at all. In fact, they are a good reminder that life moves on. As hard as it is to realize that I'll probably lose touch with many of my Morton friends as we finish these next couple of years in school, I have connected with other people. I have made incredible bonds with such incredible people. As time passes and I get to experience new things with my BU friends and not the Mortonites, the more and more I become okay with that.

This is where God has placed me. This is what He intends.