360 degrees: Branching Out

**Disclaimer: I love my friends. I've known a handful of them since kindy, a few from 5th grade-8th grade and a bunch I met last year-I wouldn't trade them for the world.**

I'm starting to get tired with my life's routine. Weekdays: School then track. Weekend: Possible movie with the same people. It's been the same since about 6th grade when I was really allowed to just hang out with my friends without a parent around, and I'm getting tired with it. If any of you have noticed, I'm kind of an impatient person and I get bored easily. So, I've been thinking of branching out to more people and things. But why do people put on a sour face when I mention it to them?

First, the more people you know, the more connections you can make. Both my parents know a lot of people-it takes 30 minutes to get out of church. Although that seems annoying, it could lead to a job connection, vacation, college advice...anything. Life is a lot easier when there are some more doors open for you.

Second, everyone needs some different life experiences. I shouldn't be thrust into the real world with only experiencing one type of life style. My future life will probably not resemble anything I'm doing right now and so I should learn to adapt and deal with other styles now.

Third, it is just high school. I'd like to say that I will keep talking to all of you after we graduate, but chances are I won't. We will all fall into new lives and probably only keep in touch with the ones we really have a deep connection with. So, whatever happens will really only hurt your friendship for about two years or so, and after that, chances are you wouldn't have kept that relationship anyway.

So, I've decided I should probably branch. I'm not going to scratch my morals and ethics, but just experience things in a different way. Metaphor time!! Branching out reminds me of a tree. You will always have the trunk and the major branches, but new branches and leaves grow all the time. So, I don't think of branching as a negative term anymore. In other words...Dear friends, I'm not replacing you, I'm just adding more to my life. Love, Mary.