Friendship

I vividly remember the night we found out who our fall freshman roommates would be. I lived in Hinckley Hall and had made some great friends that summer. I was secretly hoping I would get put randomly with one of them. We all crowded around computers to see who we were living with and if we knew any of the girls. Some knew their roommates, some didn't. I was one who didn't.
Thank goodness for that.

I vividly remember the morning I met Mary. I had come back to Provo a week early so I could work at Legends Grille, and I was miserable. I lived on the floor alone for a couple of days, homesick for my family and friends in Oregon and hating my job. Mary had emailed and told me what day she would be arriving, and that morning I woke up quite early to the sound of the door opening. Mary and her mother apologized repeatedly and profusely for waking me up, and I spent the next couple hours getting to know them both while she moved in.
Thank goodness for that, too.

I vividly remember the day I left my Mary. I was sad to leave a lot of friends, but I think I was most sad about leaving her. We talked regularly on the phone that summer, and I got to see her when we went down to California for Michael and Susie's wedding. It was so much fun to talk to her and introduce her to all my family. She got along so easily with them, and we chatted with Susie and Lisa both for a while. I hated that we only saw each other for a couple hours, but I was so glad that she lived so close to the wedding spot.

We both got busy in Provo, but we were still friends even when we didn't live together. Every time we made time for each other it was like we'd never left---we talked about everything and genuinely cared. She called on my birthday, I called on hers. She was supportive and understanding and sympathetic. I tried to be as well.


Tonight I needed to talk to someone who's known me for a long time: I called my Mary, and it was as though we didn't live thousands of miles apart. She was just as supportive and understanding and sympathetic as she always had been. We laughed a lot, just as we always do. Talking with her lifts my spirit and makes me smile. I was surprised at how much I miss her. But I love my Mary in a way that I can't love anybody else---she was my freshman roommate. And the best one I could have possibly asked for.