By Sam Grant

It is coming close to the end of my senior year and as I depart, I will be saying goodbye to many people that are close to me, including family and friends. For some seniors, the hardest part of leaving high school is that they will be leaving their best friend which I am facing.

 Throughout my high school experience, I have had a best friend that has stuck by my side through my best and worst times. We met freshman year and that is when our friendship had started to blossom into a sisterhood. My freshman year was one of the hardest times for me due to many different things going on in my life, including the passing of my father. It was a very difficult time for me, but thankfully I had my best friend, Kristina Bannow by my side. I had many personal battles after losing my father. I had no desire to come to school or participate in class work, but luckily I had Kristina to help me  through the year, considering how heart broken I was. She was there when I needed help or a boost of energy to finish missing assignments. I had someone who willingly walked me to class every day just to make sure, I would not be alone.

Kristina and I had our most memorable moments at prom walking down the stairs together, laughing side by side.

Sophomore year tended to be harder than expected; I had been behind the other peers in my academic classes. Kristina helped me catch up with my class work by staying the night on weekdays and making sure I kept my focus. Kristina was also there when I received notice that my grandfather had fallen ill and was in the hospital. My grandparents lived in Illinois; we could not make it up there to be with him or my grandmother in that difficult time, but Kristina was there for my family and I. She had helped us dramatically, she was always our shoulder to lean on and was a phone call away if we needed anything. When my grandfather had passed away, Kristina had seen me cry as well as watched me go through the same pain I did when my father passed. Kristina had seen my family in the toughest times and stuck by us. She has shown that she is the person I need when times get hard and or when we need a good laugh.

Kristina and I have spent almost every high school summer together.

Junior year was one of the best years we have had together, in my opinion. Within the first two years of us being friends, we went through hard times, I prayed that this would be the year that everything went right. We had started out fairly well. I had been placed in alternative school to catch up on credits that I had not yet gotten, which helped tremendously. Although, being in alternative school meant I would only see Kristina in the morning, which was very unusual, because our normal routine consisted of each other. Luckily, Kristina and I spent almost every afternoon together. We spent many days walking to the park and having, in my mom’s words, “one to many sleepovers.” With our night usually being filled with laughter, these nights also consisted of many serious moments. It was junior year and as our counselors said, “It’s the year to start making decisions.” Kristina had started to decide her path in life and what she wanted to be outside these high school doors. Unlike her, I did not know what I wanted to be when I walked out these high school doors. Although, she and I decided earlier on that we would attend the same college, because we did not want to have to leave each other and the memories that we had worked so hard to achieve. I did not want to be like the other students, though; I wanted to leave the state and go somewhere new that was beautiful. That is when I decided that my dream school would be Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac, Michigan. It was a small school that was miles from town so I would be focusing on academics. They had a wonderful social life that would be extremely interactive with us. However, when I had told Kristina her eyes did not hold the same excitement. She had told me there she may have trouble convincing her parents to let her go out of state for college. She was right about that. Both of her parents did not  agree with this choice; they wanted her closer. That meant that our plans would change.

Kristina and I never failed to make each other laugh, whether it be with a goofy face or a funny joke.

As our final year in high school started, I  was not sure what our future plans would be. But, I knew that I wanted us to have a great senior year filled with memories even if we stick together or separate. We decided to try and have at least one class together every trimester. Our first trimester had let us do exactly that for our fourth hour. Although, that was the only class together because I had been accepted into a dual credit college course that would allow me to be at a daycare during the morning and she was doing a dual credit nursing class in the afternoon. That was our only option. Our second trimester had not been the same; we did not have any classes but we would see each other in the hall. As hard as that was, I knew that if we chose to not attend college together that is how it would always be even if we had been forming together. Our second trimester was when we decided our ‘forever plans.’ Kristina had decided she would attend Ancilla College and I had decided to stick to Southwestern. This meant that we would not be together after this year. Beyond that it meant that things would change drastically. We had both seen that coming, but we never wanted to admit it. We could not let this ruin the friendship we created. We worked even harder on getting it stronger. As our final trimester in high school started, we knew that this would be the hardest and most emotional time we have had since our beginning years in high school. As time gets closer to the end of high school, with only five days left, it gets scarier. Realizing the ‘safe place’ is being taken, and that the future might have to start with complete strangers, it is scary to not only me but her too, but as individuals we are both ready to face this journey.

I can not tell what the future holds for any friendship I have formed with people over these past four years, but I hope that the future with my best friend remains strong. I know that the paths we have chosen in life are paths that we both know we will blossom in. Even though goodbyes are hard, I know this is not a true goodbye; this is just a ‘see you later.’ We have gone through many hard times, but I could not be any more thankful to have had her by my side.