The Journey with Us
My mid twenties came a lot sooner than I had anticipated. To my surprise I still cannot believe that I am in my mid twenties. Well, I can when I look at pictures from when I was 17, 18, 19, or even 20. I looked so young. I can’t believe how young I looked and how naive I was. Some days I miss my youth more than others, seeing how driven and excited I was about conquering the world. Photographs remind me of my spontaneous younger self who feared almost nothing. I craved adventure and loved trying new things. Right there next to me were my best friends, being just as crazy. We traveled on road trips, laughed about the boys we liked, and embraced life to the fullest. I often forget about the trials we had back then because they were overpowered with such goodness, and love. But the bad things, as well as the good are what concreted so many unforgettable friendships. The friends I have now are the ones who I went through the most things with.
Today my best friend (since ’94) turns 25. Talk about going through so much together. It’s been crazy how life threw us together during our first year at Colton Elementary School. We were sat next to each other in class by the teacher and have been friends ever since. Even as we’ve been far apart we have gone through just about everything together. But that’s what friendship is about. You’re there through everything.
It’s crazy to think that she’s in NY and I’m in AZ. I remember being kids and going to the Old Spaghetti factory together with her family for her birthday. But we’ve grown up and now we lead our own lives thousands of miles apart… still best friends. As we grow, we mature and as we mature, we become secure. We understand that distance is just a bunch of numbers and does not mean anything for our friendship (especially a friendship that has lasted almost 20 years). It’s crazy that we’re old enough to have children, to move anywhere, and to do anything. Well… that’s not not entirely true. We have responsibilities that we have to uphold. I suppose it gives us a sense of purpose and direction, though many of us feel lost anyway.
We want to do great things but feel like we don’t have the opportunity to do them… especially with the economy in shambles. I don’t know how our generation got to be such dreamers. We’re generation Y-not? Everyone in gen Y believes that we can do anything, be our own bosses, sail around the world, and live out our dreams. And most of us have become disappointed. We can’t afford to live out our dreams. But we’ve also learned that we can afford to be happy… because no matter where we are, or what our finances look like, or where we are going… we still have each other. Life isn’t about the things we do… it’s about the people who are taking the journey with us.