If you asked my best friend and me what we did in our free time, we would look at each other with sly smiles spread across our faces and burst out laughing. Best friends do ridiculous things. We embarrass each other purposely in public and greet each other with insults. Ninety-five percent of our conversations are completely pointless; the other five percent, highly confidential.

 

These days, finding a true friend is becoming a difficult task. Apparently a person whom you can be yourself around, have fun with, is loyal to you and you can trust that feels the same way about you is just too much to expect. If you are lucky enough to have a best friend that is all of these things, just know that you are one of the few. 

 

The unfortunate and harsh reality is that most of these “everlasting” relationships don’t last long past high school. Most adults can count the true friends they really have on one hand. Out of those, possibly one is someone they’ve known since high school. 

 

As you grow older and mature, your interests begin to change and the person who might have, at one point, been very similar to you, might not be so much any longer. You take different paths and go your separate ways, you might believe in different things, and more often than not friendships don’t last the test of time. 

 

It’s a sad thing to see two people who were once best friends become strangers. There is nothing and no one to blame in this situation, it’s simply life. In some cases friends drift apart. In others the friendship is inevitably going to fall apart. However, knowing that something is going to change doesn’t make it any easier when it does. When faced with a difficult situation, the bond between two people can either prosper or fail. Even though we would like to believe that our relationship is going to come out on the other side in one piece, that isn’t always the case.

 

The transition time between friends is difficult. When you meet someone new, you have to learn about another person, their secrets, their sorrows, what makes them laugh.

 

Just know that bad times don’t last forever. Even if you can’t see it, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Emily McAllister, a sophomore at D. H. Conley High School, is a junior varsity cheerleader and a member of the yearbook staff. She wants to make writing her career.