'I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends' ft. LUZ

I  remember walking into band camp the summer before my freshman year of high school and seeing some girl playing in the hall with some bouncy ball and weird stick thing. I would come to find that she was playing lacrosse and that girl was Luz and would turn out to be a very important to me. 

When I joined band I instantly noticed everyone loved Luz. She was THAT person. She was a junior and I was a little freshie. She had the looks, smarts, personality, and of course she IS a bada** trumpet player. To be short, I was intimidated (I believe that she just didn’t think I was cool at first, but that’s another story). 

The first clear interaction I remember engaging in with her was literally moments after I became freshman class president. I didn't think anyone would care, but I went to the band room and out of nowhere Luz comes up to me and gives me a big hug and yells “CONGRATULATIONS” . I was a tad bit confused at her actions because I totally thought she wouldn't care.

Later that night when I shook the confusion of what happened, I just sat and thought to myself, “wow that was really nice.” Ever since, I never doubt anything she does. 

Luz is:

My BOO

A soon to be UCLA graduate

Mid-key saucy
A fellow Husky lover

Hardworking
A fellow Com Major

A trumpet player

Family oriented 

Great

Humble

A former member of the beloved Platypus Crew:

Now, I can go on about WHAT I love about Luz, but I can’t tell you why…Let me explain:

When I think about our friendship its not typical. It’s not like my friend Ilish and I (you’ll here about her later). I don’t really talk to her as often and sometimes we go months and at one point a year or more without seeing each other in person ( A reminder the 'Real Life' is a thing and I am not excited about it).

Despite that being the majority of the past six years, if you stick us on a high school band trip to Disneyland one random summer (last summer to be exact), it’ll seem like the exact opposite. 

I’m writing this with Luz as a focal point, but this sort of thing is applicable to some of my other fiends as well and I am so appreciative of that. I am appreciative because they provide me with confidence in relationships that I didn’t have growing up as a military brat. I don’t have those friends from kindergarten or 1st grade, but I have a Luz, and a Kaitlyn, and a Jake… 

Till this day, when you become my friend and if we get close to any degree I hold on to that tightly. It’s not because I'm crazy, but I’m just afraid that if I let go I will lose something special, like I feared I have before. That anxiety has been engrained in me, but in a weird way I’m grateful, because I have learned how to cherish things in a really beautiful way. 

Thankfully Luz and others have embraced me for who I am and have reciprocated my love, being there to love me through it all... and that love always brings me back.

‘Through love comes peace’

PS- To my Vanguard Leadership Camp crew circa 2011: "Stop...Don't look at me."