Six years ago, I met my best friend, Randi, but back then, we were just two little kids who decided to swim together. Now, we’re roommates.

I never really made friends easily as a child due to being so closed off and shy, but Randi was friends with everybody. She was the first person I met in middle school to actually have a conversation with me and attempt to befriend me. We quickly clicked and created our own friend group with other people.

The groups never stuck, but she always did. We hardly ever really had fights or arguments other than a few occasions, but we weren’t known to hold grudges against each other. We always made up and quickly got back to our routine. 

We both had different struggles in life and learned to have empathy towards the other. We both had hard times at home. Our home lives were different, but also the same. We both struggled, and we both wanted something to change, but we just didn’t know what. We overcame many problems in life together and grew as people. She taught me that it was okay to have problems because everybody else does too, and she taught me kindness.

As a freshman, I started to struggle more and more with my home life and so did she. We both had problems that needed our attention, yet it was so tiring and annoying. Then, I moved out due to my mother’s lack of understanding of me. I went and moved in with my dad and began to take care of him and help out with other things.

After a few years, she decided to move in with me and my family to relieve her stress and have a constant in her life. It was no big deal, practically normal even, considering we basically had lived together already during the summers and weekends. But we fell off that schedule a while back for no reason in particular, it just happens, so it was a nice change to have a roommate. 

We share each other’s families at this point, and we continue to have new adventures and plans for the future. We plan on possibly traveling together once we graduate, along with some other friends we have. Then, we will maybe get an apartment with our friend group in the near future and live on our own. 

She teaches me many new hobbies and always keeps a smile on my face. Even after six years of friendship, we still have so many new topics to talk about each day and continue to make new memories. The first friend I ever had will most certainly stay to be the last.