Sunday, May 15, 2011

My Friendship Story

These past few weeks I've thought a lot about my friends. I've noticed that sadly most of my closest friends are peppered all around the country and I miss them so much! I've also noticed that the friends I have that do live in Orlando plan to or hope to, move as soon as possible. *Ugly crying*

A few weeks ago my friend Sara visited from New Mexico. Her grandmother, who I once visited with Sara in South Florida, passed away. Her grandmother on her mom's side was a Jewish lady from Brooklyn while her grandmother on her dad's side was a Southern Baptist from Texas....and this combination of families apparently results in a super, awesome Sara. I was very happy to get a few hours with Sarah but not happy that she had to fly in for her dear grandmother's funeral.


I met Sara through my ex-boyfriend in high school. We're talkin circa 2002 here. Both of them were on their separate schools' quiz bowl teams (although Sara's was called "Brain Bowl"). I immediately hit it off with Sara. She was one of the most confident, intelligent, open-minded, and silliest people I've ever met. Sara has always had a strong love for math and science (my weaker subjects) and she is mad good at both subjects. We both wanted to go to the University of Florida, but were both rejected our senior year. She decided to take gen ed requirements for her physics major at a community college while I decided to attend UCF and attempt to transfer to UF. I went on a tour of the University of Florida my senior year of high school and got my first Gator T-shirt. After several unsuccessful attempts to transfer I got mad at Florida and decided to give my shirt to Sara since she was able to transfer before I did. I completely forgot about that shirt until I saw it on her bed when I visited! Boy, I have grown out of that shirt big time.


After Sarah double majored in math and physics at UF (whew!), she decided that she wanted to be a patent lawyer and applied to several law schools in California where she had moved to be closer to her boyfriend at the time. Just like me, she didn't get into graduate school the first time she applied and instead applied to a nearby program  for Materials Engineering. Like me, she felt that her second choice career was a little more practical in today's world than her first option...and also that it would be a better fit for her. Now she is kicking butt and taking names, doing research and taking elective classes like "General Relativity" just because she thought it sounded interesting. Since we've been friends she's lived in Gainesville, Florida, California, and New Mexico and she's also been through several relationships in that time...many of which we spent a lot of time on  the phone dissecting. We have the type of friendship where no matter where we are in our lives or how long it's been since we've last spoken, we can pick up right where we once left off. And there have been tons of ups and downs in both our lives. It's a huge blessing to have someone who has known you forever as a constant.

Now, for the silliness that bides us. Sara's parents have these 2 huge golden retrievers with gigantic heads. I wish I knew what breed they are but their heads are the size of a horse. Whenever see those dogs I just can't. stop. staring. at. their. heads!! After taking a few pictures we decided it would be fun to emulate the dogs play-fighting in an action shot.




Don't judge. We're biting and hitting each other in mid-air. We're weird and proud.

I drove home quite a ways in the dark the night I went to see her, but it was totally worth it. She never ceases to inspire and amaze me with her hard work and confidence. That, and I feel totally comfortable around her.

This week, I decided I may devote each day to a small summary of one of my closest friends (as long as they allow it). For some reason, all of my friends are completely different... I fear if I were to put them all in the same room at once anarchy might break out and they might kill each other. This could present some friction at my wedding....but hopefully not because they love me and want me to have an awesome wedding. I get along with all of them on an individual basis and value their different character traits.

After I spend the proper amount of time singing the praises of my friends, I think I will have to do a post on my biggest difficulty right now. Because most of my friends are moving away or do not live here and because B and I will be buying I house here in Orlando, I need to expand my social circle to remain sane and happy. It's been hard for B and I to meet new people here and we are both busy with work a lot of the time. So far, I plan on attending the Reddit Orlando meetup group. I hope to meet all kinds of interesting people there. Other than that, I'm still brainstorming. Any suggestions? Prospects are looking a bit grim at the moment.

No comments: