I'm going to do something new with this post today; something different. After perhaps the thousandth time of going on a drive to have rambling conversations and deep-belly laughs with my best friend Hannah last night, I realized that I've never told you the story of our friendship.
Our story begins with a lonely girl in her sophomore year of high school, sitting in a hallway at the end of the school day waiting for her ride to come pick her up.
(High-School-age Hannah and Me!)
Me. That girl was me. Like most young teens, I'd experienced my share of feeling odd and out of place in the world over the years, but I had never in my life had any trouble making friends until high school. So, having retreated into my shell, I never expected that someone might reach out to me.
Until one day....I remember distinctly I was sitting on the floor reading a book, determined to ignore the world around me, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a tall blonde girl walking down the hallway toward me. I didn't think anything of it until a bright and cheerful voice said: "Hi!"
I glanced up to see who she was talking to, and was a little surprised when I realized that this girl with the great big smile on her face was addressing me. I remember thinking "Does she think I'm someone else?" "Do I know this girl?" And I was further surprised when she sat down next to me, introduced herself, and asked me my name and what I was reading. She continued chatting with me, and all the while I kept thinking, "Why is this girl talking to me?" "What does she want?"
I was honestly a little weirded out by the experience, but when my ride came to pick me up I said goodbye and went on my merry way, never expecting to see her again.
Until the next day. She came back again. And she sat and talked to me until my ride came. Again. And as far as I can remember, she kept coming back and finding me there every day. I couldn't help feeling suspicious.
Why was this random girl being so nice to me? What was her motive? What did she want?
I didn't like it.
Then she started finding me at lunch in the commons area or in the cafeteria and asking to sit with me. It was at that point that I started to wonder if maybe she didn't have any friends of her own. But then she told me she wanted me to meet her friend Alyssa, saying how she thought we'd get along well.
So she did have friends after all, and again I asked myself, "Why is she going so out of her way to befriend me? Why is she being so nice to me?"
I think it must have taken me around a month or so to finally realize that this girl didn't have any hidden motives; she didn't want anything from me, she wasn't fake. She was absolutely 100% genuine. She really and truly wanted to be my friend, and she genuinely cared about me.
The rest, as they say, is history.
It amazed me recently - just this year in fact - that I had never thought to ask her why in the world she had been so persistent in reaching out to me, when so often I had received her kindness with aloofness and indifference.
Her reason (for her at least) was simple: "I just had a feeling that I should talk to you."
A feeling she continued to have, apparently, and a prompting she continued to follow diligently until she had reached through the wall I had built up around myself and gotten through to the unsure awkward girl inside.
Over the years we've both done some growing on our own during the times when we were apart for various reasons, but this past year in particular we've gotten closer than we ever were before.
I have no idea why on earth she was put into my life, or what I could possibly have ever done to deserve such an amazing person for a best friend, but I just thank God every day for sending her to me. She has saved my life over and over again over the years.
She befriended me when I had no one, she rescued me when I was lost spiritually, she's helped me put my heart back together when it was broken, been an example to me, been my support, my cheerleader, my wild side companion, and shared countless laughs, random adventures, midnight ramblings, great stories, and precious memories.
Hannah, I would just like to take this opportunity to say you are hands-down the best friend I have ever had, and I love you! I look forward to all that the future holds for us and our truly unique friendship, and I'm so glad that of anyone in this world you are my best friend.
