The Five Flavors
The most beautiful discover true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.
Elisabeth Foley
In fourth grade I had four best friends. We were all as different as we could possibly be, yet we got along perfectly. One day we decided that we should be an offivial group. Since I love food, I thought we should be "The Five Flavors," kind of like Baskin Robbins's thirty-one flavors. We were all unique individuals, but together we were one sweet mix. We all came up with names for one another. I was Vanilla Bean, Samantha was Mix 'n' Match, Leah was Shaky Sherbet, Lily was Chilly Lily and Jessica topped it all off with Sweet Sorbet. And so The Five Flavors were born. We never really told anyone else about it. Just a little something we kept to ourselves.
That year Leah decided that she wanted to have The Five Flavors sleep over for her ninth birthday party. We slept outside in a huge tent. We had a blast staying up late, eating junk food and laughing at all the stupid things we did. It was that night that we decided this should be something we do at least once a year. We decided to call it our "Tradition."
Between fourth and six grade, we had Tradition more than once a year. We were all so close and felt like nothing could ever tear us apart. We would joke about having Tradition when we ould be eighty years old and how we would have to put our teeth in a cup rather than brush them. Tradition was a night where we would forget all of our troubles and just have a crazy time.
Then came seventh grade. We had managed to stick by each other through the first year of middle school, but we soon realized that we had all dramatically changed by seventh grade. We weren't the same Five Flavors that we had been three years before. We began hanging out with different groups. Despite our differences, we still had tradition that year.
But by eighth grade, we were completely separate. We each had our own friends, opinions, teachers... everything. Lily's best friend was my worst enemy. Jessica's friends made fun of me. We all were our true selves, and we all liked it that way. However, surprisingly enough, we still had Tradition that year.
Next stop, high school. We were now each our own person with completely opposite personalities. We barely saw one another, and if we did, we wouldn't even say, "Hi." No one could have ever guessed that at one point we had been so close. The ninth-grade school year was coming to an end, and we hadn't had Tradition yet. We had basically given up on the idea, but Leah insisted on having one. After multiple attempts to find one weekend that we were all free, Leah finally found one - the weekend of her fifteenth birthday. We all came, expecting it to be just like the first one we had had six years ago, and it was.
It was like we had never changed at all. We were all exactly the same. We all still laughed at the fact that Lily threw M&Ms in the tent, Jessica and I were still chasing each other around and fighting, Leah still yelled at us to stop screaming and Sam was still the sleeping doormat. The only thing that had changed as how little room we had in the once gigantic tent. That night you would have thought we were all still the best of friends. We were open about everything, as if nothing had changed between us. The past six years had altered the way we dressed, thought and talked, but we were still the original Five Flavors.
That night we all realized that no matter how far apart we grow, we would all have each other's back. I learned that nothing can replace good old friends; people who to this day can make you forget all your problems and allow you to have nothing but fun. Sure enough, after our last Tradition, we went back to our own friends, our own ways, our own lives. But we all know that we'll be back in a year, laughing together as if we were still in fourth grade. And that's what's so great about a little thing we like to call Tradition.
That year Leah decided that she wanted to have The Five Flavors sleep over for her ninth birthday party. We slept outside in a huge tent. We had a blast staying up late, eating junk food and laughing at all the stupid things we did. It was that night that we decided this should be something we do at least once a year. We decided to call it our "Tradition."
Between fourth and six grade, we had Tradition more than once a year. We were all so close and felt like nothing could ever tear us apart. We would joke about having Tradition when we ould be eighty years old and how we would have to put our teeth in a cup rather than brush them. Tradition was a night where we would forget all of our troubles and just have a crazy time.
Then came seventh grade. We had managed to stick by each other through the first year of middle school, but we soon realized that we had all dramatically changed by seventh grade. We weren't the same Five Flavors that we had been three years before. We began hanging out with different groups. Despite our differences, we still had tradition that year.
But by eighth grade, we were completely separate. We each had our own friends, opinions, teachers... everything. Lily's best friend was my worst enemy. Jessica's friends made fun of me. We all were our true selves, and we all liked it that way. However, surprisingly enough, we still had Tradition that year.
Next stop, high school. We were now each our own person with completely opposite personalities. We barely saw one another, and if we did, we wouldn't even say, "Hi." No one could have ever guessed that at one point we had been so close. The ninth-grade school year was coming to an end, and we hadn't had Tradition yet. We had basically given up on the idea, but Leah insisted on having one. After multiple attempts to find one weekend that we were all free, Leah finally found one - the weekend of her fifteenth birthday. We all came, expecting it to be just like the first one we had had six years ago, and it was.
It was like we had never changed at all. We were all exactly the same. We all still laughed at the fact that Lily threw M&Ms in the tent, Jessica and I were still chasing each other around and fighting, Leah still yelled at us to stop screaming and Sam was still the sleeping doormat. The only thing that had changed as how little room we had in the once gigantic tent. That night you would have thought we were all still the best of friends. We were open about everything, as if nothing had changed between us. The past six years had altered the way we dressed, thought and talked, but we were still the original Five Flavors.
That night we all realized that no matter how far apart we grow, we would all have each other's back. I learned that nothing can replace good old friends; people who to this day can make you forget all your problems and allow you to have nothing but fun. Sure enough, after our last Tradition, we went back to our own friends, our own ways, our own lives. But we all know that we'll be back in a year, laughing together as if we were still in fourth grade. And that's what's so great about a little thing we like to call Tradition.
Roxanne Gowharrizi, 14
Chicken Soup for the Girls Soul
Chicken Soup for the Girls Soul
Even though we probably have never been as close as The Five Flavors, but I do hope that we would still gather once a year, even after graduation, a day for us to have fun, forget everything about our life in our relative schools.
- Ting Hui
- Ting Hui
