We all have gone our separate ways; we grew from children to adults. We all have them now life, families, and even some us have a working marriage. At this time in life or this time of the year I’m not sure which it is.
I find myself reflecting about the friends I grew up with and the wonderful times we had. As we passed milestones throughout our lives I find, I had the best friends anyone could ask for, and yes they are all still around me, in my thoughts, prayers and during troubled times. Grade school is just memories of long joyful days, and fun filled times of youthful fancy.
I recall the wonderful friends, that helped me get through, and of course some of the ones that may not have been so great at the time, but became friends never the less in later years.
There were fights in the schoolyard, bickering in the hallways, and snide comments in the classrooms. This was the way of things when we were children, and we were growing into the people we would someday become. Right or wrong, we got punished when we did something wrong, we were taken to task in the principal’s office our parents were called, and then punishment was administered so we would not commit the same wrong doing again. Although on some children, not even this method worked, but I’m glad to say it did on me.
My true friends were so different, we probably looked like a kaleidoscope, and they changed by a turn of the tube. Some disappeared, while others faded into the background from one year to the next. Some would always be there, just within reach whenever I needed them or they needed me. I can honestly say I was not always the best friend they could have had, nor I’m sure they did have at different times throughout our school years.
For with each passing year we tended to out grow many things, we changed and so did our wants, desires, and needs. Some of my friends passed me by for others, just as I gravitated towards a different or new person that I thought would be who I wanted in my life rather than my old friends that knew me as a child.
Junior high or Middle school as it has become named, was a transitional period for all my classmates as well as myself.
Some of us who had been the followers wanted to change to leaders. Others who had been leaders were ready to follow a more prominent leader. Some of us looked toward an older generation, to develop the attitude, confidence and personally we thought we wanted within ourselves. Rebellion quickly occurred against others, who wanted us to stay the same. So as we turned the pages of our book, and one chapter lead into another, so did the events in our life. The colors and shapes of our own experiences changed daily, sometimes hourly making and breaking ties to family members and friends who once had been the foundation of our lives.
I know without doubt my world seemed to change within minutes during my ninth grade and tenth grade year, where I had just barely touched on my rebellion in Junior high, now I hit it as a large stone would hit the water in a lake. The large splash caused many ripples throughout my family and friends. I made a lot of mistakes with the choices I made, but each mistake lead me to become the person I would later be proud of. So to say I regret them, I cannot. For with each wrong friend I picked, I also selected two right friends that have stood by me throughout my years into and after adulthood. The bad friends lasted for only moments in time, but each taught me a lesson that I would always remember. I found five more of my closest friends in tenth grade. These friends as well as some of my grade school and middle school friends have kept me balanced, connected and centered to who and what I have become.
I have made many other friends throughout my adult life, and some of them have become mainstays they have kept me grounded when I would have floated out of existence, been there for me when I needed them. All of these people along with my father and children have been the shoulders I could cry on, the people who never judged me (too harshly) and the people I can depend on when I need someone to lean on. I thank God for each and every one of them daily.
By Janeal Mulaney
