Friends.

At Friends of Refugees we have this tagline: Join the story. It means that each person is in the middle of the story of their life. You have the chance to enter into that story and watch it unfold or even be a part of it as you step into a volunteer or staff role with FOR. You get to meet people where they are.

All this talk about joining the story has had me thinking about my own. How exactly did I get to this place? After much thinking and reflection, I think I have a lot of my own friends growing up to thank.

There was my best friend in Kindergarten who happened to be Korean. She taught me that when someone asks for a skin colored crayon, you have to give them several options. There was my other best friend all through elementary school who also had Down's Syndrome. She taught me about loyalty and what it means to stand up for your friends. There were my Indian neighbors down the street who taught me about taking my shoes off at the door, having a different set of religious beliefs, and made me fond of the smells associated with Indian food. There was my friend in third grade who was African American who in the most basic of ways began to open my eyes to the reality of white privilege and how our hair was different but both are good. And our other friend whose parents were divorced and counting all of her half and step and real siblings, she had 10 brothers and sisters. She taught me that families sometimes look different, but love can still hold them together and make it beautiful. There were my Asian friends in middle school who battled stereotypes of always making the best grades and being the best at art. My core group of friends was Chinese, Christian, Morman, Northern, and Agnostic. But we were all best friends.There were the Muslim and Hindu friends I had in high school that taught me about what they believed and asked me about what I believed. There was the time myself, a Muslim peer, and an agnostic-Hindu peer had a small group discussion in class about why believing in anything at all matters or not. Our agnostic-Hindu friend walked away from the situation amazed that a Muslim and Christian could agree on so much and be so friendly.

I always found myself surrounded by friends who, while we had things in common, were never exactly the same as me. They taught me beautiful and hard things about diversity and what it means to be a minority. They taught me about what it means to have pride in your culture, whether it was marching band or Columbia that you claimed as part of your identity. They taught me about different ways families can look and still be great families. All my friends, the ones like me and unlike me all contributed to me figuring out who I am and understanding how complicated other people and other families can be to figure out. And for that I'm thankful.

I'm so thankful for the friends I've had who have helped shape the way I see the world and how I see people. There is so much else that has shaped who I am...but there's no way I can discredit the impact friends have had on me and my life. All of those individuals joined my story and whether they meant to or not, they impacted what happened next for me.