Changes

One of the things I think about, mainly when I’ve had a bad day, is how much of my life has changed throughout the years. Friends and other kinds of people have come and gone, my opinions of things, and ways I see the world, have all been altered by the passing of time. Things that are important to me now, I might not have cared about 5 years ago, and may not care about 5 years from now. As the time changes, along with it, relationships, priorities, and opinions all change too.1

Thinking back to early elementary school and some of the people I knew and was close to then, it’s hard to believe I barely talk to them anymore. The changes that come from being a teenager, growing up, and starting junior high can really take their toll. I remember a girl named Kayla Schulmeister in my grade 3 class. We were best friends for that year but at the end of grade 3 she had to move. Over the next few years, there were only rare letters from her, and the ones I did get were about how she was making new friends that she liked more than me. In grade 5 she called me and told me she never liked me, and she never intended on being friends with me, but that once she hung out with me I wouldn’t leave her alone. Needless to say, I was absolutely crushed that our friendship was nothing more than a lie. I look back on the days we were friends, the laughs we had, the attempts to “talk about boys”, and how the night she moved I cried for hours, and I wonder how things could change so much.2

Similar things have happened with other friends as well. I can remember really great times with a few certain friends, and it’s kind of sad to think that I rarely talk to them any more. We would beg for our moms to let us have one more sleepover, rent movies or make cookies. I remember all the sleepovers from that summer in between grade 6 and 7 when I would have up to 3 friends over and we’d all go crazy over the boy who lived upstairs from me. The problem was, separate schools for grade 8 caused distance between us and the phone calls and trips to the movies came less and less. Some of them that still go to the same school as I do have drifted to other friends, still talking once in a while, but not nearly as much as before. I recall being scared when I felt that I was drifting away from them, but I realized some things change for a reason and you just have to accept them.3

Throughout the years, my opinions on some people have also changed greatly. In elementary school, I couldn’t stand being around someone who I now get along with quite well. On the other hand, there are people I think less of than before. People who I have discovered drink, or smoke that I once had so much respect for. First impressions that I have made have been proven wrong as I got to know the person, such as some people in Bugle Band who I didn’t like when I first met them. Once I went on a trip with them, and got to know them, some have become really great friends.4

Some of my dreams, goals, and things that are important to me have been altered, expanded or put off to the side as well. Over the years I have gotten older and have changed things about myself such as what I want to be when I grow up and who my idols are. I have wanted to be everything, from a nun to an accountant, an archaeologist to a lawyer. As time changed, I changed, and as I changed, what was important to me also changed. I used to love space and adventure, which made me want to be an astronaut. At another time, I spent some time working with children at my school and decided I’d enjoy being a teacher. Throughout my life I have had many different passions and interests, making me want to be many different things.5

The passage of time can change many things, from friendships, other relationships and opinions of people to goals and life dreams. You can’t control it, nor should you try. You are bound to change who you are throughout your life, and with those changes come many others. New interests and decreased interest in things you once loved are bound to happen. Things in life will change greatly no matter what. They aren’t always good, and not always bad, but whatever changes come your way come your way for a reason. I have not always liked the changes I have been through, but once they’ve happened, I have to accept them as a fact of life.6