A good friend left Austin today to study abroad for the fall semester. Usually this would not be a big deal, but this time I will not be in Austin when he returns. I met Jose my second year at UT. He was a friend of my roommates. I actually met him the Christmas of my first year but didn't know anything about him. I also didn't like him because of it, he just seemed so strange. He started school the next year. After church nearly every Sunday Jose would come over to make lunch or dinner at our apartment and we quickly became good friends. Soon I began partying with him and spending time with him nearly every day whether it was lunch, dinner, or during a workout. Sometimes he would stop by the store where I worked and every weekend we would party. I'm not sure how I survived my second year of school with the amount of partying we did. We danced when no one else danced and continued to dance even after the party died down around us. But we also made pizza, did ab workouts, and ate in the school cafeteria together. Over the years he became my best friend.
His second year of school, my third, saw us living together in a house with two other people. Here our friendship continued to grow as we watched "I Love New York" and "America's Next Top Model" together on Tuesdays when I got home from class and he had the day off. We continued to party, but I also got a boyfriend so I didn't spend all my time with Jose any more and while we grew apart, we remained close still. I met more people through Jose than I have in the rest of my college life. While I'm not friends with all of these people, I still feel that the amount of time I spent enriching my social abilities because of him allowed me to be the person I am today. In the last four years I have grown along with Jose and he will always hold a special place in my heart. I don't know if we will grow up and live near each other, but I hope that we stay in contact. I know I am horrible at keeping in touch with people I do not see often, and I fear this could be nearly the end of my friendship with Jose. But I will invite him to my wedding, and send him pictures of the children I don't plan on having. He is a friend I will always include in my memories of life at UT. Jose made each part of school more exciting, and allowed me to be myself while peer pressuring me into things I am glad I did. Only a few times do I regret going downtown with him and not getting enough sleep for whatever activity I had planned the next day. He has seen me at my best and worst, and everything in between.
The sunglasses I am getting rid of today, while not the actual sunglasses I have worn with Jose, instantly reminded me of him. For a few weeks last spring he wore crazy plastic sunglasses all the time, and still has more pairs of sunglasses than I do shoes (which does say a lot). We even had a few days that we wore sunglasses downtown at 11 at night just so we could wear them. And because we're cool like that.... I will miss Jose more than I know now, and more than most other people I am leaving behind in a few weeks to go to Chicago. I can't wait to see how his trip is going and hopefully catch up, just like we always have when we are apart for a long period of time. Jose, I will miss you, be safe, and wear your sunglasses at night.
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