There's No Ship Like Friendship

I'm going to be honest, I'm not having the best day. That's okay though. I'm determined to get through this on my own, but my current mood had me reflecting on life and it made me realize that as bad as my depression is and was it also helped me find my true friends. The people that I value very, very much and would honestly take a bullet for. It also had me realizing how hard I worked to hide my depression from anyone that didn't know me, but that's unimportant.

Amanda, me, Catherine, and Emilee (June 2013)

Truly, I do have the most amazing friends and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. I've noticed that I will have like two to three close friends at a time. I like to keep different friendships separate so a lot of my friends aren't friends too and some of them actually really hate each other, but I honestly don't care. I love my friends for how they make me feel and who I am when I'm around them. I don't have multiple personalities, but it probably looks that way when I'm around different friends, they just bring out different sides of me.

Jackie, Joanne, Sammi, and I (July 2013)

I have two sets of "close friends" that are very different people. I have Joanne, Jackie, and Serena who are still new to my life. They don't seem like it though. During my senior year I would spend every weekend at Joanne's house and then once summer came I was there literally every day. I'm not even kidding, I only came to my house to shower, change my clothes, and occasionally sleep. The four of us went to Taylor Swift this past July and that trip is what had me fully accept Serena into my life. Jackie has been best friends with Joanne for who knows how long and so she came with Joanne. I don't have sisters, but these three are as close at gets to family for me. Joanne's family actually means a lot to me. It's very personal though, but I hope they are in my life for a very long time.

Serena, Joanne, Jackie, & I (Philadelphia 2013)

I also have the two Emily's. I've known Emily1 since second grade when we both transferred to St. Luke's and I met Emily2 in sixth grade on the SLS swim team and I'm going to be honest - I was scared of her. However, I still remember the first pep talk Emily2 gave me so many years ago. I didn't truly become friends with Emily2 until our freshmen year of high school at a "Learn to Row" camp and I didn't form the bond that I still feel like I forced on Emily1 until a heart-to-heart over Christmas break via Facebook messages during our sophomore year. They've taken way too many hits from me and have helped me through some tough times and for that I am forever grateful. Also, fun fact: we went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade almost two years ago and I convinced myself that our friendship was over when the trip was so in an effort to avoid the ending I slept the whole way home. Little did I know, they were there for me that January and it still means a lot.

E1, Me, E2 (NYC 2011)

Regardless of whether or not they're close or not close, friends are still friends. Muhammed Ali once said: "Friendships is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything." I couldn't agree more. I can sit here and talk about my friends and how much they mean to me and you could do the same, but we would never understand. My friends and family are put into one category, they have equal importance to me because of how close my friends are they are like family to me. My cousins and my closest friends are like sisters to me. I love them and I wouldn't have it any other way.

One of my oldest friends, Becky, and myself at graduation (May 2013)