Sitting at my parent’s kitchen table, there was little I could do but stare into space in weary disbelief. Minutes came and went – silence crept into the room and greedily claimed the entire house for its own, amplifying the defeaning thoughts that filled my head.

“How could I have let this happen? How could I have been so stupid to let them back into my life… again?“

The thoughts echoed between my ears until I was too exhausted to consider them any longer. Hours later when the sun was beginning to set and my father arrived home from work, I woke up feeling better than I had in a very long time. My body rested and my mind clear, I knew what I had to do then.

Everyone Deserves a Second Chance

The day I graduated from college marked the day that I would ignore my own gut to follow the advice of my brother. It is a day which I only recently came to think of as a blessing rather than a mistake – simply because I only recently came to realize the growth that this decision would inspire.

I had invited only family and a few select friends to be present for my graduation. Thus, when this individual (let’s call them Fez) had shown up, it was more than enough to ruin my mood. A friend of mine who was also graduating on the same day had invited Fez and of course had failed to mention the fact. Needless to say, by the time graduation was over my brother was doing his best to discretely convince me of how I should give my once-best-friend another chance.

He did seem better. It had been almost a year since I had last talked to him. I mean, maybe people do change…right?

…Right?

Going Full Circle

In only a matter of weeks, Fez and I became inseperable again. The setting had changed drastically – from being roomates in a beachy college town, both of us had moved back to our respective hometowns in the noisy and polluted cities of Southern California.

Things started nicely enough, the relationship felt fresh and promising, just like it did when we had met in the freshman dorms almost six years earlier.