Posted 1:59 AM by Duke

Because it's that time of year

Have yourself, a merry little Christmas.
Let your heart be light.
From now on, our troubles will be out of sight.
Have yourself, a merry little Christmas.
Make the yuletide gay.
From now on, our troubles will be miles away.
Here we are as in olden days, happy golden days, of yore.
Faithful friends who are dear to us, gather here to us, once more.
Through the years we all will be together,
if the fates allow.
Hang our shining star upon the hghest bow.
And have yourself a merry little Christmas, now.


I never realized until this year that Diana Krall is singing about friends. One of the main reasons I've come to love Christmas so much is that it means I get to fly home and be with my best friends. I don't know what I did wrong at Michigan (if anything), but it doesn't seem like I've got too many close friends here. And the ones who I am close to aren't really like my friends from home. And aside from the ambiguously gay guy I've mentioned before, all of my friends from Dallas are female. At Michigan I almost exclusively hang out with males. I'm not much of a hanging out kind of person, so maybe that has something to do with it. And up until this year I've always been too involved on campus to really find time to just chill at someone's house watching tv.

I've met a lot of drinking buddies and guys I can work out with, but I haven't developed a lot of close bonds. I know practically everyone on campus, but not many really know me. I was actually afraid my 21st birthday would be a bust because I wasn't sure who I could count on to make it really fun. It turned out great, but my friends that night were mostly students I had gotten to know that year through an organization I was in. People have told me college tends to be like that, especially at a school like Michigan. Everyone is wrapped up in their own world, it's cold all the time, and the midwest tends to generate odd children. Sure, ok. But still. I love going home to my friends from high school. We have a little group that is really close because my high school was healthy and normal. We had our share of angst and drama, but it wasn't anything like I've heard about from my friends at Michigan.

So I love coming home to warmth and friendship that I can't really say I've found in Ann Arbor.

For better or for worse, Merry Christmas everyone.