Friday Night

It’s a weird place in life in which I live.

I’m a college student. I’m trying to grow up. I live at home.

I know that I’m not the only person who could describe their life with such statements, but that doesn’t make it less weird.

As I slowly step out into the world and try to stand on my own two feet I find myself quite often surrounded by discouragement. I don’t believe that the reason for this discouragement is that until now there was not a list of things to be discouraged by, but because I refused to see all the discouraging things that were happening before this moment in time.

However, not all hope is lost.

I graduated from high school with 50 other people, and on Friday night a few of us got together at one of our former teachers’ house and spent time enjoying one another and filling in the gaps between graduation and now. It was a late night spent around a bon fire, and every second was worth it. We have all changed, and while most of our habits and desires and personalities have stayed the same, we’ve become more confident in who we are and what we believe and little hints of this confidence appear every once in awhile. Our conversations have changed because of this. Our conversations are better than ever before. Perhaps this is because we’re learning new things about ourselves and about this world every second of every day, or perhaps it’s simply because we’re not afraid of each other any more. Whatever the reason, I praise God for these conversations that were had on Friday night. They brought me back to reality. They helped me to focus. There is a handful of very fine people from the class of 2008. I am more thankful for them now than ever before. They love me, and I love them back. We support each other, encourage one another, teach each other, and learn from one another.

I’ve missed these people. I’ve missed them a lot.