2008 Woodie Awards
Reflections: The Importance of Life's Friendships
Josh Stober
Issue date: 4/7/04 Section: Opinion
It's been gnawing on my brain since March 22nd at around 8:30 in the morning. Thinking about friends and friendships and relationships and love and loss and everything that has come up since one of our classmates felt lost enough to end his own life.
The night before, I started making up the list for people who I wanted to invite to a birthday party and it ran up to almost 50 people. 50 people whom I want to spend a few hours with and share something with. Students, staff members, that kid down the hall who you wish you knew better.
The list starts with the close friends. Their names, all 2 of them, are on the top of your list. You don't write out their full name, just the nickname or the abbreviation that you came up with, because when it comes time to send out the invitation to your party, you know who it's meant to go to. You don't need to find out their last name for campus mail.
They're the same ones who know when your birthday is, who have already started thinking about what gift to get you, who can figure out what's bugging you when you can't or don't want to. They know all the little details, the little secrets, the little things like what you got your first girlfriend for Valentines Day senior year of high school or your favorite band.
They ask you every night about lunch the next day, even though both of you know you'll both be there. You make them more mix CDs than is really necessary, but that has never stopped you before.
You can't imagine life without them, and the mere thought of losing them gives you nightmares. You see them every day, whether they live in a different hall or in the room that you share a wall with.
It was never intentional that you became close friends, it just happened that way, and it's something that you never question.
Next are the friends. The ones whom you might not see every day, may not even spend your time on weekends all the time. They lend you their car, know how to make fun of you in just the right way, give you that look when you stare just a little too long. They never laugh at you, but laugh with you.
The night before, I started making up the list for people who I wanted to invite to a birthday party and it ran up to almost 50 people. 50 people whom I want to spend a few hours with and share something with. Students, staff members, that kid down the hall who you wish you knew better.
The list starts with the close friends. Their names, all 2 of them, are on the top of your list. You don't write out their full name, just the nickname or the abbreviation that you came up with, because when it comes time to send out the invitation to your party, you know who it's meant to go to. You don't need to find out their last name for campus mail.
They're the same ones who know when your birthday is, who have already started thinking about what gift to get you, who can figure out what's bugging you when you can't or don't want to. They know all the little details, the little secrets, the little things like what you got your first girlfriend for Valentines Day senior year of high school or your favorite band.
They ask you every night about lunch the next day, even though both of you know you'll both be there. You make them more mix CDs than is really necessary, but that has never stopped you before.
You can't imagine life without them, and the mere thought of losing them gives you nightmares. You see them every day, whether they live in a different hall or in the room that you share a wall with.
It was never intentional that you became close friends, it just happened that way, and it's something that you never question.
Next are the friends. The ones whom you might not see every day, may not even spend your time on weekends all the time. They lend you their car, know how to make fun of you in just the right way, give you that look when you stare just a little too long. They never laugh at you, but laugh with you.