True Friends

Story time here:

Once upon a time…in Elementary School, I had a few good friends. In first grade, I was the weird kid that people thought was crazy…(they weren’t that far off 😉).

I had a hard time as some of my best friends moved away. I was stuck. Left behind. Lonely. Sad.

I was bullied in first grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, and a little bit in sixth. Sometimes I would branch out from the tiny friend circle I was in, but other times I just stayed with them. I hadn’t yet learned that I deserved better.

When my dad was laid off from his job because they went public, he was devastated. It was about 6-8 months of uncertainty, the unknown, confusion…..and then new possibilities.

During this time, we often went to the Payson temple every other Saturday at 5:30 in the morning. As we were walking out one day, a temple worker stopped my dad. He recognized him from an old job my dad once had for many years. Whispering to my dad, the man asked him what he was up to. He asked if my dad was still working at the job he had been working at. My dad answered that he wasn’t, and the rest is history! The temple worker told my dad to stop by his office on Monday.

It wasn’t immediate, but there was a possibility to move to Arizona. As a family, we talked about it often. Who wanted to go? Who wanted to stay? What was our family supposed to do? Where did Heavenly Father want us to go?

I jumped at the opportunity to start over. To go on an adventure. To change my life for the better. Now, I am here in Arizona. We’ve lived here since June of 2016.

I just want to express that for YEARS, I prayed for a friend. I prayed for people to care about me as much as I cared about them. I prayed for someone to love me and support me and be there for me as I would do for them.

I struggled still in 8th grade, but when I transferred to the public high school near my house the next year, things changed. I am so grateful to be able to say, I finally found those friends. The friends that are loyal. The friends that care. The friends that make me laugh.

The purpose in writing this is to express to you that you that you deserve good friends too. You deserve to be loved as much as you love and care for others too. Always be kind. Always be yourself. Always be genuine. When you follow these steps, those friends will come.

Now let’s talk about what you don’t deserve. You don’t deserve “friends” that are inconsistent and make you feel guilty. You don’t deserve someone who makes excuses for bad behavior. Someone who treats others like gold and you like trash. Distance yourself from those that are toxic. Distance yourself from those that won’t affect you in a positive way. Why? Because I’ve had those friends, and it is awful. When you make friends that you can laugh with, cry with, talk with, and be with, your quality of life will improve.

Be persistent in your efforts. Most importantly, be a friend to make a friend. Don’t allow others to treat you like trash because you are anything but trash.