Big Tuesday

My list of accomplishments in life:
Getting my braces off. Check.
Graduating from High school. Check.
Putting the past in the past with an old friend. Check.

This last Tuesday was one of the biggest days of my life and I don't mean that lightly either. When I woke up Tuesday morning I got up and got ready and drove to my orthodontist. I had a two hour appointment to get my braces off. It was quit dramatic, which might sound silly, but people that have had the experience of getting their braces off kown my pain. I'm surprised I only cried once through the whole ordeal. I'm proud that I was able to suck it up for the most part. I just kept telling myself, I'm going to have my braces off, I'm going to have my braces off, and it got me through most of it. Then I went home to recover my pride from my outburst at the orthodontist and cooled down before I got ready for my graduation which was schedule for two that afternoon. I got ready and rode with my sister to my school. She told me that I looked at lot different with out my braces and that I had a pretty smile. I'm glad that three years of braces managed to get me a pretty smile, it makes it all worth it. When I got to my high school my peers and I had to sit around in the cafeteria for a half an hour until we got on the buses to go to the Highline Stadium where the ceremony was taking place. As I was waiting I was pleasantly surprised to see my old friend Lauren there. There's a huge history between us where two years previously she had betrayed my trust like no else had before in my life. She had been a drug user and an alcoholic at age of 15 and I was young enough to think that I could help her on my own. In the end I got burned. Any lesser person than me would have walked away and never tried to love her or be friends with her again. True I hadn't seen her much over the past two years because we went to different schools after that, but we ended up graduating from the same place. Both of us were surprised she was graduating, but in a good way, she had dropped out of high school for a sort time to endanger her chances. We ended up sitting together through the ceremony and we stood by each other as our family members took pictures of us in our gowns. It only seemed fitting to be walking with her as if it had been our destiny to go through our graduation together. Even though I've never been more betrayed by anyone else in my life and probably will never let my guard down enough to let a person do that to me again I learned and experienced more to life from her than anyone else. For that alone she will always be in my heart. When you go through so much with one person, the good and the bad, you can't help but be connected to them. That day as we walked to get our diplomas the past was in the past, but the love for each other had followed us to the present. Tuesday was a day of cleansing for me, I got a new smile, I completed the greatest chunk of my education, and I learned that friendship means more to me then the strength of bitterness. Maybe growing up isn’t so bad after all.