The Greatest Compliment

Before I get to the serious subject of this post, I'll start with a story.

A couple of weeks ago we had Jr/Sr Banquet here at Bryan. Part of the process entails getting on buses and riding to far (or not so far) away destinations. Well I happened to end up on a very fun bus along with star soccer player extraordinaire Harry Sherwood.

pictured here being awesome

 He started up a game called "Mixed Tape" where basically everyone just sings stuff and you can jump in with anything if you know it. Well there came a pause after some song had died out and I chimed in with "It's Raining Men". I got a couple of lines out and realized that no one was joining in with me and trailed off, slightly embarrassed. Then I heard the voice of said British soccer champion extraordinaire say, "You can't play if you can actually sing." This is one of the greatest compliments I've ever received. I mean, I've had people tell me I can sing before, but never in a super cool accent like that. It was pretty sweet.

But on a more serious note, I'd like to talk about what I consider to be the greatest compliment I could ever receive from a friend.

The greatest compliment I've received is to know that a friend considers me loyal. Loyalty is something I value highly. To know that someone loves you enough to always be willing to stand by you, no matter what your trial or ordeal, is the greatest absolute you can ever have. A good friend will not abandon you no matter what you may have done to offend or reject them, because they know how to forgive and love in spite of your failures and fallen-ness. Everyone struggles with maintaining friendships, especially in times of transition, like moving from high school to college, or even moving up in class throughout college. The dynamics of my friendships are constantly shifting. But I try my best to love all of my friends well, even if I don't get to spend as much time with them as I once did. I don't give up on friendships, even when that seems the easier option.

Once my friend, always my friend, unless you do something near-unforgivable like kill my parents or something (Drewber and Sweeny!).

Well, that's how I feel about that. I love my friends!

Nicole