Looking back…

10 years ago… I was entering my last year in middle school as an eigth grader. I wore oversized glasses and was still socially awkward. I had exactly one friend, who wasn\’t really a friend but more of a competitor in school. School was too easy for me.

(Exactly) 5 years ago… my first boyfriend-to-be (and now ex) visited me. I was in my freshman year at Berkeley and was still struggling with my sudden ability to make friends easily. I still was socially awkward and sheltered. I thought I was going to be a computer science major. I was in the UC Berkeley Extension because they only had room to accept me in the spring (a not very well-known fact of me). I didn\’t miss home. Since it was less than 12 miles away.

One year ago… I was in San Diego visiting my sister in her last year. I was still smarting from the mess I created in August. I started hated flying since I flew coast-to-coast. Most of all, I had come to love the mhci program I had started, but still felt distanced from other people in the program. I didn\’t feel like I had any close friends in Pittsburgh but at the same time I realized that some people who I thought were my friends weren\’t really.

Yesterday… I finally understand my incredibly quality of having such a large number of (good) friends, which surprises even myself. I went to Berkeley for the third time in the last 4 days to see a friend who drove all the way from San Mateo. At first, I was slightly bitter that I had arrived in Berkeley at 8 pm (after accidentally taking the wrong way to the Bay Bridge toll, I bargained with the toll operator) but it turned out he hadn\’t even left home yet. But when I saw him again 2 hours later (the third time spending time with him in person), all my resentment slowly disappeared.

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