I met my best friend Lauren Batton
when I tried out for the Farmington travel soccer team in fourth grade this was
the first link. We had lived in the same town almost all of our lives and even
went to the same Elementary school for a year before she moved to Unionville
and was nearer to a different one, and still we had never met.
I don’t remember that exact moment
of even the exact day, but I do remember that at first we were both shy and
weren’t very good friends. She was just another teammate. Between 4th
and 5th grade we became closer and closer with a few sleepovers here
and there and when I moved to Unionville and was just a few minutes away from
where she lived we would carpool a lot, and our families were just beginning to
become really good friends which was my next link.
However we didn’t become really
close until the summer before 6th grade when her mom died which was
the next link. Her mom was one of the nicest people that I knew. I remember I
was at my family’s lake house standing in the living room when my mom came in
from the porch. She was standing in the doorway, and telling me with such a
straight face. After that we all just went quite. I didn’t understand it and I
didn’t really want, so I didn’t think about. I didn’t cry and we didn’t talk
about it at all.
The day of the funeral was a really nice sunny day, which I
think is actually perfect because they weren’t calling it a funeral; they were
calling it a celebration of her life. I can still picture the church where it
was held, which was almost all white which probably stood out even more to me
in contrast with everyone’s black attire. Laurens dad and father spoke and I
remember admiring how brave Lauren and her family was.
That summer after it happened my
family spent at least one night a week over at her house, and would stay until
late. My sister, Lauren, and I would sit up stairs in her dad’s room watching
cartoons and other shows like the Nanny and George Lopez until it was time for
us to leave. Once school started we saw each other less and less because I was
starting at a private school and she still went to Farmington Public School.
Our families didn’t spend as much time together but we still did, we would
hangout at least once a month, playing soccer, lacrosse, talking, making plans
for the future, staying up late watching TV. Her house became my home away from
home. This was the next link.
Lauren always made me want to be
better at soccer and lacrosse driving me with friendly competitions. She is the
reason I love lacrosse, want to be alway get better, and want to play in college, without her
I am not ever sure I would be playing to this day. We went to countless college games and bonded over out mutual goal of wanting to play as good as them one day. I owe where I am today with lacrosse to her.
Our next link was the summer before freshmen year when she
asked me to go on vacation with her family to Georgia, and Michigan for four
weeks, which made us even better friends.
I was jealous of how brave she was
after her mom died, and never broke down, or complained about anything. She has
great views of right and wrong that I always try to live up to. Honestly when
ever someone asks me for advice I tell them what I think that Lauren would do.
Today I
still consider her my best friend even though we don’t hangout or talk as often
as we used to, I know that she will always be there for me, and know exactly
what to say. She is my mole model, and I am so thankful to have her in my life
because without her I probably wouldn’t be the person that I am today.
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