A Family Of Friends

Here it is. My very first blog! I have the worlds worst grammar and don't know where to put a comma to save my life, so if you read this, ignore that fact!

So I actually wrote this last night as I was trying to fall asleep. However, it was not until today that I actually figured out how to start this whole blog process.

So as I lay here trying to fall asleep, I realize how important it was for me to move away from home and go to Texas Tech. Not many people from the good ole’ town of Krum, TX had the courage to do so. Now, those people fit into one of three categories. Category 1: They are expecting a child. Category2: They are “in love” and getting married any day now. Or Category 3: They work at the fancy new WalMart in Denton and attend to the oh so honorable NCTC. Whoa! Dream Big! When I made the decision to attend Texas Tech, I made the best decision of my life. I have no plans of getting married, I am DEFINITELY not pregnant, and of course I don’t work at WalMart. Instead, I have the best friends in the world and we are overcoming the obstacles of living life out on our own as one big happy family. I no longer have to worry about who I am going to run into that is going to spread a rumor about what I did this weekend. I don’t have to worry about ruining our family’s name in Denton or Wise County. I go out and have fun, responsibly of course. I have matured because I have had to learn to limit myself. I no longer have my parents to limit me. I have learned to maintain my active social life, while maintaining a GPA that I am not afraid to show my Mom (the hardest lady in the world to please, educationally). Any who, back to the amazing friends that I have. In high school you are limited. If you don’t like someone you have to suck it up, because you are going to be with him or her regardless, competing to be “popular” or whatever that nonsense is. Especially in a small town, you are in constant competition with them from the time that you start school to the day that you walk across that stage. In college everything is totally different. If you decide that you don’t like that person, good for you. You are not forced to sit next to them in class. You are not forced to attend school functions with them. Most likely if you don’t enjoy that person, you are not going to have to share the same friends with them. Pretty much, you can distance yourself so far from that person that you will not have to converse with them, at all. This leads me to the fact if you are friends with someone, your friendship can grow stronger. The hardest thing that I have had to do in life is move from my comfy, quaint home snuggled right out side of Krum, TX to this nasty, used, shared dorm room with community bathrooms in Lubbock. Now I love Lubbock don’t get me wrong, but I have never had to share a room with anyone in my life, much less with someone that I hardly even know. I have never had to share a bathroom where you have to shower in shoes. I have never, not had a back yard. I have never had to do my dishes in a sink the size of a bowl. Nor have I ever had to pray that they turned the air conditioner on tonight because my room is 95 degrees.  However, despite all of the down sides of living in the dorms, everyone should have to live at least one year of their life in a dorm with a community bathroom. You learn to quit being so dang picky. You learn why your mom jumps your butt every time you “forget” to clean your room or bathroom. You learn to appreciate the things that God, and your parents have blessed you with at home. Most of all, you learn who your friends are. When you live so close to people that you hardly know, you learn a lot about them, pretty quickly. You learn that everyone has little ticks that drive you nuts, and you just have to ignore that. You learn that everyone has grown up a little different than you have. You also learn that if you can practically live with someone for a year and they don’t drive you to your grave, you better hang on tight because that is a true friend. This year, I have been blessed with the presence of four girls, along with my sister. Hallie “Mom”, Shelby “Heffernan or Dad”, Tiffany “Blue Duck”, Emily, and Shelby “Grandma Christmas” are the best friends that I could have ever have been blessed with. They are my family. Of course I still have my real family that I was born into, but when you don’t live anywhere close to them you need to create your own family of friends. Just like I was when I was at home, I am still the immature, youngest, “wild child”. If Hallie and Heffernan were truly my parents I would probably live ninety percent of my life in time out. My five best friends are fun, crazy, amazing, loving, caring, cheerful, talented, and BEAUTIFUL people, inside and out. I could not imagine waking up one day and not having them to hold my hands as I walk down the yellow brick road of life. If anyone can bring a smile to my face, it is these girls. They listen to me when I just need to throw my feelings out on the table, they take care of me when I don’t feel good, and they drive me home when I need a ride. Basically, these girls are my life. Today, Emily celebrated her 19^th birthday. We all got together and had a girl’s night. It was great! Hopefully someday when we are not all on that terribly tight college budget we can throw her one heck of a good party. In the mean time, we are just going to have to cherish the time that we spend together, on a budget. As I lie here in bed, I wonder where each of us will be the next time that March 3^rd rolls around and it is time to celebrate Emily’s 20^th birthday. What path in life will we have chosen? Will we all be able to spend the day together? Or, will we have to spend it one man less? Regardless where we are at on that given day, I hope/know that we will all still be the best of friends whatever life throws our way.