A True Friend Will Help You Bury the Body...

I love my friends. They bring out the best in me and have been there for me whenever I have needed them. Seriously, I have some of the best friends a gal could ever ask for. I don’t really have one group of friends but a bunch of individuals that bring me into their own groups. It’s interesting because none of my friends really know each other. Some have met on occasion but my groups really don’t mix much. It's fun and gives me a very different experience each time I go out with a different group.

These friends have come into my life at various points. One of them I have known since kindergarten and is practically a sister to me. Another is so much like me it’s scary and even though I don’t get to see her much, I love her to death and know that she would do anything for me. There are my friends from work who are just an amazing and eclectic group of people. Each with a story and a big heart. Then are the friends from grade school whom I don’t get to see or talk to very often. Yet when we get together it is like no time has passed at all. College has also produced a crazy bunch of friends. The women I have met in the Women’s Studies department are just incredible. It’s is a wonderful feeling to be in a room with a bunch of women who feel exactly the way you do on many social issues. Then there are the ones who I have met in various other classes without whom my life would be very different. Like the woman who was going through the long distance relationship thing that same time I was. We discussed the good points and the bad points and were there for each other during the trials and the tribulations. We broke up with our respective boyfriends within a few months of each other and without her I know it would have been much more difficult. It was good having another person around who really understood. Then throw in some people I meet over the internet, Thespians (who were like a big family to me my first three years here at PSU), and an ex-boyfriend with whom I recently reconnected and there you have my crazy group of friends.

Lately, however, my friends have been having a rough go of it. Death, cancer, boy and girl trouble, depression, suicide, prison, lost jobs, accidents, etc. It’s a lot for a group of people so young. My life hasn’t been picture perfect; I have had more then my fair share of trouble and heartache but some of the things these wonderful people are facing are just horrible. I feel for them all and I do my best to be there for them whenever they need me. ‘Cause I know that they would do the same for me.

So here is a toast to you all; (Raises glass) “To my wonderful friends. May we all get jobs when we graduate, and find love, happiness and success. I love you all. Thank you.” (Takes shot.)