“J, you are such a dumba** sometimes, I can’t stand you!”

I’m on the verge of screaming as J is weaving through traffic on the Belt Parkway at an ungodly speed. He’s laughing at my demise and continues to fly through the roads. Despite my rising blood pressure and adrenaline rush, I was completely trusting of his abilities to get us to our destination safely. It’s a hot summer day and we’re on our way to find a new park to explore.

Until then, I’ve always wanted to explore nature. Limited to New York’s public transportation, I never really had the chance to leave the city and go out to where the mountains were. Well- I did have the chance to, but the people I asked always turned down the idea of traveling out far for the experience. J didn’t mind though, and actually set up a whole day event with a group of people. When we got to the summit, it felt so surreal that I was finally above civilization with only the clouds as neighbors.

We met through mutual friends during an event years ago when we were still in high school. Over time we hung out more and more with the same group of people and got closer. That group of friends is now one of my closest friends, almost like family.

We live pretty far from each other, at least an hour drive. I’ve never really had friends outside from the city, it was a new experience traveling like that to hang out. I didn’t have a car then, public transportation took almost two hours to get to him. Despite that, he always found a way to make my commute better by picking me up or help arranging rides with others

To be honest, a lot of my friendships back then were toxic, and I didn’t know that until I met the friends I have now. J helped me realize that friends do things for each other because they want to, and shouldn’t expect anything in return. There were many times where I was in distress and he would come out to chill with me, no matter when, rain or shine. He also taught me that it’s okay to be upset at your friends, and to tell them. Good friends are willing to listen, even if there are disagreements. I’m not saying he’s perfect; we’ve had our fair shares of arguments. Unlike my previous friendships, even if we got into a bad fight we would always work things out later.

Since meeting him, I’ve grown so much. He taught me how to drive (maybe to his own benefit haha), snowboard, and just take the risks! Life without risks is wasted life, he says. And whatever you want, you deserve it. We’re best friends now, and probably stuck like that for the rest of our lives. We can make fun of each other and ground each other whenever we need to. A friendship like this is definitely rare, and I feel blessed to have him in my life.