All My Best Teachers Have Been Friends

Sometimes, I just want to write a love letter to each and every one of my friends. The ones I've had for years... The ones I've just made... The ones I no longer have...

I've heard it said that friends are the family you choose. So, fittingly, I chose to have a huge friend circle, much like my huge Greek family. Now, as much as I've tried to remedy this feeling, I've always had the nagging suspicion that I just didn't fit in with my "big fat Greek" family. I was the baby for a long time, and when I grew up, people didn't quite know where to place me any more than I knew where to place myself. I was a self-admitted oddball. And I was cool with that. So, instead of dwelling and feeling like an outsider, I simply focused on my chosen family. My friends. Who always made me feel like I was right where I belonged.


And my friends... Well, as the title states, they are my best teachers. I learn so much from them everyday. My admiration for them is quite endless, and I feel like I truly have the best friends ever. I feel like I got to the market early and picked the best apples before anyone else could snatch them up. But that's how everyone feels about their friends. Because everyone's friends fit them differently. If I asked you, you'd say that your friends were the best people in the whole wide world. And what's wonderful is that - for you and your own personal world - you would be right.

My friends are extraordinary. They hold in them attributes that I long to have for myself. They reveal in me the person that I want to be. And what's more: They support me in becoming that person.

As I continue on this journey through my Peace Corps application, I can't help but think about how much I'm going to miss them when I leave. But I am grateful that, through knowing them, I might carry with me their drive, tenacity, creativity, and kindness. And hopefully, I will convey those traits as I go abroad and extend my friendship to others, so that they might extend their friendship back to me.

Happy Good Feelings, all!