My friends and why I will miss them

I do not get emotional often. If I do, I do not act like it. But this feels different. My friends are leaving me. Sure, they are just graduating, but the gravitation of it seems very large to me.

I have really evolved this year. I am like Play Dough. What I was before was, let's say a car, and I get rolled out on a counter with a bunch of crumbs on it. Now, no matter what I became, whether a space ship or a duck, the crumbs will be all over and stuck. They help form the shape, they are part of the duck. Now imagine someone is reaching in and taking out a bunch of crumbs. It is not fun. No matter how gentle it happens, the duck will get mangled.

That probably made little to no sense, but it felt good saying (or typing, I guess) it. I love my friends. I learned the importance of friendship a while ago. Now, though, instead of being shunned, they are growing up, leaving me behind. 

I love my friends. Like I said to Kirsten Goodman, "I used to have no friends, so I love those willing to be friends with me." I became friends with sooooooo many people this year and I will always remember the influence that they have had on me.

To my senior friends, I thank you. Every one of you have changed my life, from teaching me how to dance (Zach Harris) to winning scripture mastery (Evan Kirby, Zach Hulsey, Andrew Mortenson) to playing Bang! for hours on end (Marissa Smith, Sam Norton, Kevin Fonseca, Nate Crosland, Clay Ellis). I have gone on dates with you (Kassie Hymas [but I will not touch your face]), I have learned in Health with you (Jessie Marquis) and I have been changed by you, greatly. You truly are the crumbs in my Play Dough duck of life.

To my not so senior friends (so 9-11 grades), see you next year. Thanks for everything you do, stay true to what you know.

Above all this graduation, though, is something much more troubling. The summer's end doesn't just bring school, but it also brings something I have been dreading since I was old enough to think regularly: my brother, my best friend, Brock, is leaving on his mission. He is my hero and I will miss more than anything. If that wasn't enough, half a year after he gets back, I leave. When I get home, he will most likely have an eternal companion and maybe a kid. 

I always thought we would be together through the most important parts of our lives, but we are barely too far apart. We did not go to high school together, we didn't really date at the same time, and we won't be missionaries at the same time. He is my hero, but we aren't as close in age as I would like.




After that emotional crap, here is this: