Friend? Or accessory?

It's six thirty, and I can honestly say that I have spent the entire day violently ill, in bed, and watching old episodes of a show I haven't seen in a while on my computer. Remember the days when you could go online and enjoy an entire days worth of TV without seeing a single commercial? Well those days are over. Plus it's worse than the real TV commercials because, online, they just play the same four ads over and over and over, but thats besides the point. One of those ads was a trailer for a new Disney movie about Prom (I couldn't find the trailer, so here's the one i found. Movie review to come), and the opening line is "High School has a way of dividing us." It went on to list a few of the typical high school cliques, but, being a girl who's never really belonged to a specific group, I've always seen the cliques a little more differently than what the commercial made them out to be. I don't mean to pretend like I'm "too good for all that clique nonsense," because it's not something that I chose for myself, and I think there a a lot of people like me in my school, and your school, maybe even you. And if I got to do it over again, I'm not sure which path I would have taken. But from where I sit now, I can see that those of us who belong to different groups, really only use those groups like an accessory to match whatever person we are trying to be that day, or that season, or that event in our life.. So often, the system makes us feel like in order for us to be, for example, an artist, we need to hang around with other artsy kids (like when you wear a nice dress, you need equally fancy jewelry, or it'll look odd). Even, sometimes, we wear them like an old heirloom. Beautiful, but we're really only wearing it out of obligation to our family. Like when we're on a sports team and we like we have do EVERYTHING with them. If we hang out with people just because they're on student council with us or we find ourselves saying "I'm going to the movies with the National Honor Society girls," then our relationships are only as deep as that one thing we have in common.

Being a senior in High School, I think that now is the perfect time to make these kinds of changes to my life. I've met a lot of different people, so I can look at who I'm truly compatible with, and maybe try to bring them all together for a game of pop pong and bonding. Being a senior in High School, I think about college A LOT. I mostly think about those people that I really want to stay in contact with, so I think I'll start with them.

All you younglings out there, take a peek at the big picture. Start forming deeper relationships now (don't wait until you've got 3 months and 23 days left). Have a good conversation with someone that you normally stay on the surface with, go deeper. In the words of the guy (yes, that guy) form the Old Spice commercial, go "neck-deep into the waters of friendship and trust."



So yeah! I hope that was insightful. I'm going to post next on how to throw a mixer for just $15 and a little creativity. "What is a mixer?" you say? Well, I guess you'll have to check back tomorrow :)

Keep it real,
Emily

P.S.

This is me and my sisters with our Grandpa at Easter on his new bench. Now Grandpa can sit comfortably while he fantasizes about the untimely demise of his neighbors barking dog. I love that man :)