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There are so many good things out there that we have to be thankful for. All manner of things that give us warm, fuzzy feelings inside. One of those things that I have had the immense joy of experiencing is the blossom of a new friendship. When you talk to someone that you've known for a while, but never really talked to. The moments of discovery as you find out that you have different things in common, things that you thought we're probably unique to you. The moments when you begin to open up to one another, sharing bits a pieces of yourselves. Nothing big to begin with, but as time goes on, you share more and more of yourself.

Sometimes it's intentional. You see something that person left, a writing, or a drawing, or an idea shared with you by someone else. You think that this person is someone you might like to get to know better.

Other times it's just crazy random happenstance. As yo go through your day, you cross paths with someone else, and they leave a footprint inside you. You find the shared interest, the thing that ties the two of you together. You begin there, and from that point spreads ideas, jokes, and good times.

Oftentimes you won't be able to tell which it was.

I challenge you to look around you and find a friend. Now pinpoint the moment you became friends with them. Not the first time you spoke, necessarily. Just the first time you thought of them as a friend, rather than an acquaintance. If you're anything like me, you can't.

I wrote an essay for a writing class last semester about how friendship is like a plant. How you can look at it every day and barely see the growth. But when you look back on what it looked like at the beginning, and how you now have a beautiful plant, well, I think friendship is pretty similar.

I just wanna take this moment to thank all the people who have grown plants with me. I wouldn't be who I am without you all.