The 5 People You Meet in College

In the book “The 5 People You Meet in Heaven” the main character dies but before he goes to Heaven he travels to different times in his life to meet 5 people whose lives were immensely affected by his.  Today I want to write a post about the 5 people who have affected my life this semester at school.  Each of these people had changed me in more ways than one and I don’t think they’ll ever truly understand.  One semester is not enough time to get to know people this great and I am going to miss out on so many other lessons that I could learn from them.

First is Kelsey.  She is the best person I know and she is in the smallest package.  She has a zest for life that I have seen in very few other people and she is amazingly good at everything she does.  She taught me that greatness is not dependent on height, brains, skills, but that greatness is your state of mind and the will of your heart.

Ashley comes from a far off land in the middle of nowhere and yet she is still so cool.  She hosts amazing social events and always knows how to entertain the people around here.  She is a devoted friend.  She taught me that being a friend isn’t just being there when someone needs you, but that it’s also about helping to make meaningful and fun memories together.

Bree is one of the good ones.  She is beautiful, smart, funny, and a myriad of great qualities, even if she won’t tell you.  Bree makes me laugh so hard that I feel like I’m going to die, but then she understands the need for quiet times too.  Bree is so great.  She taught me that anything can be a joke if you can find the humor in it.  She can take wildly inappropriate or uncomfortable situations and break the awkwardness by bringing in humor.

Nicole is someone I have had much less interactions with than the other 4, but she has still had a profound effect on me.  She truly listens to me when I talk which, if you know me, you that most people don’t listen to me because mixed in with my wisdom is a lot frivolous stuff.  But when I talk to her she actually listens to every word and she tries to glean out the wisdom from the extra stuff.  She also has a quiet energy about her that makes me happy even when she isn’t talking.  She emanates joy.  She taught me that listening to people can be as great a joy as talking.  I’m going to listen more because I want to understand the world the way she does.

Ty is my best friend.  He is such a great man and is so conscientious about doing good things.  He tries not to do anything that he feels is a waste of time and he is very frugal.  He has a car and would drive me places that I needed to go and he would go to parties with me just because I wanted to go.  We made a movie together and did some pretty ridiculous stuff, but we also went to church and did service projects together.  We don’t hang out all the time like some friends, but we try to do something at least once a week.  Ty has shown me the kind of man I want to someday become.  I will never be as quiet or patient as he is, but I will try to be more forgiving and to waste less time.  Ty taught me the true nature of service and charity.  I want to help people more because I have known Ty.  He is a great man and a great friend.