Aquella Bea .

I drove down to Tucson today to go say congrats to my friend Symone for graduating from the UofA. We’ve known one another since we were 8 years old. We were part of the “cool” group in elementary school, but I was only kept around because most of them liked to pick on me. Not Symone. At lunch, she would always help me find my lunchbox after the other girls had hidden it from me. As you can imagine, these kinds of semi traumatic childhood bonds are pretty strong. Even in my eight year old stupor, I knew such support meant she was my good friend, and she knew shit was too fucked up for her to idly stand by. 

We never again were in school together after the fifth grade, but we always stayed in touch. Her and her twin sister were the first people I knew who got a car when we were sixteen. sweeeeeeet 

She always went with me to all the parties where I knew the boy I liked would be. She was the first person I would introduce any interest to. She always listened. 

We learned the definition of a crazy night together. We learned how to smoke pot together. 

Once we hit college, I moved out of town, and we both changed exponentially. She became pretty religious, and I became pretty gay. I remember being scared of telling her I liked a girl, but surprisingly enough, I don’t remember when I told her. I just remember how she was always there for me as I learned what heartbreak meant. 

Being gay is something her religious views and cultural views don’t accept, but she knew she accepted me. “You’re not gay B, you’re just B!”, is what she always said. Sometimes I would take offense, wanting her to accept gays more, or something, but as the time passed, I realized the only thing that was important, was that she was still my friend. 

And today we get to celebrate her accomplishments. She’s been through thick and thin during her undergrad. Boys, betrayal, rebellion, etc, etc. But she fuckin’ made it, and still has that heart of gold that has kept the two of us together for 14 years. 

Cheers to good friends!