The Joy of an Unexpected Blessing

“There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship”

-St. Thomas Aquinas

About a year ago I was a month away from hopping in the car and driving to Steubenville, Ohio to start my freshman year of college. As I drove out of Texas and across the United States I left behind many things. I’d see my family in a few months when they visited and I would see Texas again when I came home for thanksgiving break. But it wasn’t just family and Texas that I said goodbye to, I said goodbye to my friends. About a year ago I was unsure of who I would stay close with, there were now states between the friends of high school and me. I decided I’d let the year go and see who were still my friends when summer came. Being back home this summer has shown me just how good God is to me and just how much he wants to fill my heart with JOY. He has blessed me in such an incredible way. The four friends who I became close with senior year were still my friends and it was as if nothing had changed between us. I would even argue that we are closer now than senior year.

Meeting up and hanging out with these friends is always filled with endless laughter and so many memories. The beautiful thing about these friendships is the fact that we have so much we have shared, yet there is so much we haven’t. I am able to tell them all about my first year of college while also get to hear about theirs. These girls have my heart and I couldn’t image sharing my years of college with anyone else. We may all go to different colleges but that hasn’t stopped us from bringing each other JOY both in college and during breaks. 

-Eileen

 

When I left for college, I knew that I was really going to have to make an effort to keep in touch with friends from high school. I wasn’t going to be seeing my friends every day like I was used to, I wouldn’t even be talking to them everyday. It was going to be so easy for these friendships to literally disappear from my life as if they hadn’t even been there in the first place. Senior year of highschool, I became very close to a group of four girls. It was such a blessing to be able to share all the joys of our last year of high school together and do fun things like go to prom, or prepare for graduation. 

What I didn’t know was how much more of a blessing they would be to me after we all went our separate ways to college. No amount of distance could break the bond that we have formed over the past couple of years. I have so enjoyed spending time with them this summer. We are all incredibly busy, but when we do find the time to hang out it is nothing short of true JOY. Seeing all of us grow during our first year of college has been so wonderful. We are all different. We have all changed. But the friendship that we share has been a constant in our lives that has helped us get through tough times. St. Thomas Aquinas is absolutely right. True friendship is special, and I am blessed to share it with these incredible women.  

-Ana