Appreciation
By Emily, age 19, Newfoundland
Sweet Designs Featured Writer
Recently my friend and I had a major fight. It's the first one we've ever had and it was pretty heartbreaking. In the end, it was my own fault because my actions caused him to get mad at me. That night he was upset and went to bed rather abruptly, and I didn't sleep very much either because I was up thinking about our fight.
The first thing that came to mind was the kind of person that he is. He's sweet and caring and he has never complained about listening to me rant. He even has kind eyes. He's never done me wrong, so why did I have to go and mess up? I really didn't feel like I deserved his forgiveness, let alone his friendship.
You see, he and I were supposed to hang out the next night, and I assumed that he wouldn't want me to go to his house anymore. I had every intention of going to his house, explaining how I felt about the whole situation, and doing him a favor and ending the friendship. He didn't need someone like me to make his life miserable.
Then, once I had finally fallen asleep, I kept dreaming that he forgave me in several different ways or else that I ended the friendship and life continued as usual. In the first scenario, things were awkward at first and then we got back to where we were before the fight - talking for hours each day about everything and nothing at all. It was the second scenario that worried me though. My friend happens to work at the place where I go to work out, so I see him almost every day. The dreams were filled with awkward glances and small talk that ended with teary eyes on my part.
So the next day I woke up and got ready as if I were going to his house, but honestly I was not sure how the evening was going to play itself out. He messaged me on MSN while I was doing my hair and apologized, and I messaged him back, and we ended up working things out. I was elated.
I know it's a roundabout way of saying this, but what this article is really about is appreciating what you have while you have it. I knew before the fight that I really treasured our friendship, but I really didn't realize how much it really meant to me until after the fight when it was too late. I'm really grateful that he's a big enough person to have accepted me again unconditionally.
Ever since our fight, I've decided to change the way I act and talk, because sometimes things are misinterpreted as mean when I'm just trying to have fun. It's really not nice to laugh at someone else's expense. I've learned to appreciate the people I love a lot more now that I've experienced what it's like to live without them, even though it was for less than 12 hours. It was the longest 12 hours of my entire life.
Much love,
Emily
