F is for Friends

It's amazing to me how a friendship can withstand time. And not only time, but distance.

Over the years, people have come in and out of my life. People change and people grow apart. "BFF'S" in elementary school, usually don't last through middle school. "BFF's" in middle school, usually don't last through high school. "BFF's" in Florida usually don't make their way to Arizona.

But I have 3 exceptions.

There's Mary Fulton.
Mary and I go back to the diaper days. We grew up in the same church--we saw each others families grow. We had always been friends, but grew closer as the years went on. We had our awkward phases, we had our getting-on-each-others-nerves phase. And we got past it all. Now we have countless inside jokes, and are able to talk on the phone for hours. We never went to the same school, but we always made it work.

There's Jen Wilson.
It started at Azalea Middle, where I was the new kid, and I thought she was a total prep. We started off not caring for each other, but after one project in english, we became friends. Throughout middle school we sort of hung out with different groups of people, but we were all considered the "cool kids". Then we isolated ourselves in the IB program, where we suffered together though old Biology teachers, annoying girls, and just a lame school in general. There we got even closer than before, and stuck together like glue.

There's Taylor Baxter.
We knew each other as babies, but never really got close till we were older...when we found out we were long distant cousins...by marriage. We had all of these memories together as children we never realized, and instantly became close. We lived 45 minutes away from each other, but were in the same stake, so we occasionally had times to hang out. The distance never stopped us then from being crazy and loud, and still doesn't stop us now.

As I talked to Jen on the phone today, I realized how special these three friends are to me. I've met some great people here in Arizona, but there's something about these three girls that astounds me. There's something about being able to talk to them for hours on the phone. There's something about being able to tell them all of my stories, and have them genuinely care. There's something about being able to call them on a whim to tell them something dramatic, and have them there for me, as if they lived next door. Today, Jen told me about a situation she was in that starkly resembled a situation I'm in. That just proves that even though we're thousands of miles away, we can still relate to each other, and we can still be there for each other.

The last time I physically saw Jen and Mary was last year when I went to Florida for band. They spent money and time to drive up to Disney so we could spend a day together. And the day I spent with each of them, was just like I had never left. They both plan on coming out to visit sometime this year/summer, and I'm so ridiculously excited.

None of these girls are really friends with each other. I met them all under different circumstances, but I love them all the same. I am amazed at how awesome they are, and how each one of them has grown up, and how they have turned out. I appreciate them, now more than ever, and I'm proud to say that I have three best friends that have withstood time, trials, and distance.