Stories from Somewhere Else

Yesterday, the Freeport High School Speech Team rode on a frigid yellow bus to Byron High School to compete in the Byron Speech Holiday Classic. The second we arrived, the whole team was already buzzing, filling out their critique sheets, scanning their schematics, and rushing from one end of the school to the other, finding their rooms and preparing to perform - that was enough to warm us up. Round One came and went. Round Two came and went. And among freshly baked potatoes and yummy bagel sandwiches, we all waited anxiously for finals to be posted, the pent up energy keeping us laughing and merry. Finally, the moment came. A man announced that all of us should make our way to the gym, for finals would be posted on a screen once we'd arrived. Members of my team and the teams all around us gathered up their pens, papers, and books (if they were entered in a book event), ready to write down room numbers and go off to their respective rooms, already prepared. But...I didn't.

Today, after taking three finals and going out for a fun little lunch, I discovered that I may or may not have been left out of a get-together that I would've loved to have been a part of. Sulking for an hour or two, I came to a realization. No, this isn't  a huge epiphany to be written in the stars. It's just important, especially to your self worth: Sometimes, you're going to be alone. People are going to host events that you aren't invited to. People are going to call up a friend to go to a movie - and that person may not be you. You are going to be alone from time to time . And that's okay. Who would we be if we spent every waking moment of our lives attached to the hip of another person? The key to accepting this is knowing that in your alone...ness, you don't have to be lonely. You don't have to sit in despair, wishing for your phone to buzz with the chance that someone might be on the other side, wanting to talk to you. Think of all the t