Fun Fact #31: I can be weirdly sentimental about friendship....

So I spent this most of the past week in Oregon and had an amazing time. Going back to visit Eugene allowed me to reflect on my time in college and I realized how lucky I was to have had such a great college experience.

When I left Oregon for Pittsburgh I was pretty negative about all things Eugene, but now I've come to appreciate Eugene for what it is. It's a little hippie college town and it's probably never going to change. I still never want to live there again, but I did feel a certain sense of nostalgia driving down from Portland when I smelled Springfield's always unique odor (trout?) and saw all the hippies wandering campus the next day.

The best part of my trip to Oregon was seeing all my friends. I felt as though I had never left with most of them. I can readily admit that I was extremely judgmental of a certain organization that I was involved throughout all of last year. But for all the drama that organization has caused, it has also given me some of my closest friendships. And I will be forever grateful for that.

My time in Oregon also allowed for me to realize that there are some friendships aren't worth maintaining. They may have been great friends in the past, but the past is the past. I want my future to go a certain way and there are some people who will never fit into that life. It doesn't mean they're necessarily "bad" people, it just means we have nothing in common anymore. And when that realization is made the only thing really left to do with those "friendships" is be grateful for the memories and move on. It'd be waste of time to try and do anything else.

But on the flip side, there are plenty of other friendships that are worth maintaining. Living across the country from most of my family and friends has taught me that effort is needed to keep one's relationships strong, and I'm willing to put that effort in for those friendships that I consider to be worth that effort.

Thanks to all of those friends whom have stuck with me through my bitchiest and whiniest moments, I'm sure you all know who you are. I hope my friendship is one of those that will continue to be worth the effort as we all continue to grow and change.