One of my best friends has been very detached lately. This is something I would not expect from her, either. She was once the most active member of the groupchat. She laughed at everything, and her sense of humor was childish in the best way possible. Scrolling through social media, I often come across funny TikToks and Snapchat memories that remind me of our weird sense of humor, and I start laughing. I laugh but then I quickly stop, because I cannot share the moment with her anymore. During my senior year, she became the person I looked forward to seeing every day, because with her there, there was never a dull moment. Now, I can barely get a hold of her. I message her, and I get excuse after excuse as to why we can’t hang out. Her sense of humor has seemed to dry up, and she never reaches out to me first. I don’t understand it. How does somebody who is so jovial, silly and fun switch at the flip of a dime? I think about her every day, feeling 30 emotions at once. Confusion, because why are you removing yourself from my life? Anger, because it is quite rude that you’re ignoring your friends. Sadness, because I miss you. And lastly, worry, because what if you’re hurting and I don’t know it? I believe these problems will be resolved eventually, but for now I can only hope.
Anonymous
You never know when or where you’ll find your best friends.
My longest friendship — still going strong today! — is with my cousin Mac who lives in Michigan. We see each other maybe once a year at best, yet we know about every relationship, argument and mental state the other one has been in. I wouldn’t trade her for the world.
When I headed to college in August 2020, I got to meet another girl who would become my best friend, roommate and soul sister: Brenda. Blessed with two double rooms in Bosch to ourselves, we lived across the hall from each other but spent almost every hour together. My spare bed became hers and we watched movies, cooked, made crafts and went shopping together. We’ll be living together again come May 2023, and I cannot wait. Love you, Brenda Lee.
It’s a cliche, but my significant other Zach is also one of my best friends. We met through a mutual friend and have been dating for the last 20 months. There’s no one I’d rather lounge around with all day and tell “I miss you” even when I’m sitting right next to him. I’m forever thankful for him and the support he gives me through every day, good and bad.
The newest edition to my circle of friends are the editors of The Griffin (hi guys!). I was lucky enough to go on a weekend trip that brought me substantially closer to all of them, and now a lot of us text on a daily basis. It’s ironic that I make this amazing group of friends only a couple months before I transfer to another school, but everything happens for a reason. I think they were brought into my life to remind me that my time at Canisius since the honeymoon period of my first two semesters was still worth it. I stuck it out, became a better person and got to meet some of the best people I know, so thanks guys.
My point is, don’t shut yourself off from making connections because you think that you don’t have time or it’s not worth it. I promise you it is.
Marissa Burr
I have had the great pleasure of having many best friends in my life. The list starts with my seven siblings, who have known me through all of my worst stages — my awkward 12-year-old selfies, parted ponytails and not-so-solo dance sessions will otherwise go with me to my grave) —, and it’s ever growing these days even as my college calendar gets busier. I’m a word nerd, but I have a hard time defining what a best friend is. My best friends come from all different environments, and they’ve been involved in wildly different timelines of my life.
My mom is my best friend, and she’s helped me with just about every decision I’ve ever made; my boyfriend is my best friend and one of my favorite people of all time; my roommate (who I dragged with me from Dugan to our first ever apartment: hi, Kyra) is my best friend; the girl I grew up with in Syracuse is my best friend, even as our relationship has evolved in the six years since I moved to Buffalo; I would count a couple of my Wegmans coworkers as best friends, because we spend too much time and go through too much together not to be; the people I work with in the Writing Center are my best friends, for obvious reasons; the 6- and 8-year-old boys I babysit are my best friends, because when you spend 15 hours a week together for a whole summer, you basically get the fast pass to best friendship; one of my bestest friends and I spend all day alternating between complaints, secrets and increasingly obscure/niche TikToks…
I take my friendships very seriously, so I feel like I might label someone one of my best friends before they would label me one of theirs, if that makes sense, but that doesn’t really make me feel less secure about our relationship. I don’t think best friendship needs to be reciprocated to every last letter. Once you’re a best friend, you’re a best friend forever, and to be clear, I will die on the hill that you can have more than one best friend. For me, the best friend distinction is just the understanding that a person has a piece of my heart: and how lucky am I that my heart is growing and making more space every day?
Emma Radel
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