I have a problem distinguishing reality compared to something I may have dreamt. I have struggled with it all my life. People often laugh at stories that I tell because they do not believe that they could have ever happened, including my family. One of my favorite stories of Elementary School is the one story that no one has ever believed was true and because no one believed it I began to wonder if it had ever happened. In second grade, I remember waiting in front of the school for my mom to pick me up. I saw a spider on the ground and being an evil child, I wanted to kill it, which is a natural girl reaction. When I stepped on it a billion baby spiders went everywhere! They were on my shoe and on the ground all around me. Since then, I am cautious when choosing the bugs I would want to kill. This story is one from Elementary that I can recall perfectly. I am not sure why out of all things that happened to me in Elementary School I would remember a story about a spider, but it is one that is very important to me.

Our youth group went on a mission trip to Dayton, Ohio. We got to stay in college dorms and helped clean up around the campus. One night my best friend Roxanne and our other roommate for the trip, Angela, stayed up almost all night. Roxanne and I were going back and forth telling stories that she and I remembered from our crazy experiences. Her last story made me cry. She began to tell a story that she remembered well from Elementary School about a time when I saw a spider and squished it and all these baby spiders went everywhere. I was so happy that someone else knew the spider story.  This may seem like a small thing that should not mean so much to someone, but I see it as an act of kindness. Roxanne is my best friend and that means she is someone I can always trust and will be there for me. It means she also holds special stories of her and me, stories that are backed up and it cannot be thought of as false. People who can back up your life stories and experiences are important, and I really realized that with my best friend Roxanne.

 
Kristy
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