By Jenny Chen, staff writer
We met at around the age of elementary school through family friends. My grandma had neighbors that shared an open area outside. When I was younger, my dad would always visit my grandma so I had no choice but to follow him. My dad and I would head over to my grandma’s house early in the morning and my grandma’s talking to her neighbor. While my dad and grandma talked, I usually had to hangout by myself outside because I didn’t care about anything they were talking about and it’s either completely unrelated to me or none of my business.
My grandma’s neighbor brought up having a grandchild around the same age as me; that’s when I saw her and I decided to be friends with her. I told her I liked to be alone here because it’s the only quiet and relaxing place I get to hang out at and because I’m allowed to do whatever I want. I also told her I was into gymnastics.
She asked if I wanted to play around on the play structure for a little bit, and I said ‘yes’ so we both sprinted up the steps to reach the monkey bar. We both liked to play hide and seek or tag, I remember there were a bunch of other games we both enjoyed, but I can’t remember all the names of it or how the games went.
Even though we went to different schools, throughout our elementary years we were friends. She was older than me by a couple months although I was the taller one. But we had things in common too, like we both had black hair and had a younger sibling. We both came over to our grandma’s place on Saturday mornings, so that’s when we would hang out. She was probably the first friend that I’ve felt comfortable around.
However when we both went into middle school, I started finding other interests. I started making new friends at my school and getting into volleyball. My dad and I were not as close anymore, so I’d barely followed him everywhere he went. Whenever he’d visit my grandma, I chose not to go or he’d go alone without asking me if I wanted to go. By this time I quit gymnastics and barely visited my grandma.
At this age I also stopped playing on monkey bars and play structures. From time to time I’d go to my grandma’s house just to hang around inside alone and watch chinese drama or eat snacks, otherwise I’d be outside chilling on my phone, which is something I can do on my own time instead of at my grandma’s house. I started prioritizing my own time and putting my new interests first.
Now we’re both 3 years into high school, at different high schools. We live very far from each other, and both of us haven’t seen each other in 10 years. But thinking back, I’m glad to know I had a friend who was just a joyful person and fun to be around.But I know that if we saw each other again today, we’d probably have to reintroduce ourselves and start all over..
