Reflection I

As the credits play, I write this reflection...

This is the most romantic movie I've seen in my life. The Notebook reminded me of so many moments that Trisha and I had together. I felt like the movie depicted part of our relationship... It brought back good memories of my relationship with my ex. Her name was Trisha.

A young lady, four foot tenish inches tall, she and I met on my birthday, in the year 1997. I was turning fourteen, graduating from the eighth grade... My parents were throwing me a birthday party, and I asked my good friend Kathy, who recently moved to another school, to attend--she brought some friends. One of them was Trisha.

I'll never forget that day. My mom asked Trisha to dance with me--it was definitely embarrassing. Regardless, we fell in love that day. I really think that our lives changed at that moment. She and Kathy left the party, and i prayed that I'd see her again. I did: she forgot her sweater and she came back to get it. As I gave her the sweater to her, she and I stood in the doorway... We stood and said goodbye.

Each night, we talked on the phone, but once the summer ended, our relationship ended with it. I don't know how it all ended, but I knew that she'd always be around...

Winter ball, my junior year: all of my friends had dates, and I was one of the few who didn't have anyone to take. I looked through my address book and found Trisha... I gave her a call, and asked her to go with me... After about two years--we hadn't talked for that long--she said yes. Our relationship only grew from there.

After two and a half years, the summer after my sophomore year, Trisha and I had begun to grow apart: she was in San Diego and I was in Santa Cruz. Our relationship grew more difficult as each day passed, and it ended with my suggestion: if we couldn't work it out by the end of the summer, it had to end.

The Notebook made me think a lot about the time that I spent with Trisha, but interestingly enough, it made me think more about the someone for whom I've truly fallen. As each day passes, I can only think that as I get closer to graduating, many of the people I have grown to know in college will only become a part of my past. Our friendships and shared experiences will become distant memories that--one day--I'll have to think hard about to remember.

I don't have the greatest memory, and I worry that I, too, will end up like Allie as I grow older, unable to remember the moments that I shared with the people that I loved. I do hope, though, that someday I will be able to find the love that I had with Trisha in someone new--rather, someone that I have come to know as friends.

I think the greatest love one can find is in friends. While I can't say that I've got many friends, I know that I have many good friends who I can turn to. One of them once told me that she loves how she or I can call each other after months of not talking, and it's just like old times. One of them told me recently that she thought of me as one of her closest friends and hopes that our friendship will not end. One of them told me that I shouldn't worry when I go off to graduate school--I'll make friends just as I made friends with her.

I guess I'm a bit under-socialized (like my cat, Dexter). Surely, I think I know how to have a good time with good people, but when it comes to new surroundings and new faces and new possibilities, I think that I can be a bit reserved. However, I worry the most that after I graduate, I won't have the time to befriend new people as I had in the past because I'll be devoting much of my time to studying.

I guess my personal reflection is that I hope that during graduate school, I'll be able to find an equal balance between my academics--preparing myself to create positive change in our world--and my social life. I have always dreamed of making a good difference in the world, enabling people to have their own chance at making their own difference... But, I guess I'm a bit self-centered too: I hope that I can also have a chance to experience what Allie and Noah had... What Trisha and I had... What some of my friends have: true love.