The Mediocre Best Friend

Mahoney 3

Leigh Mahoney

E. Doyle

English 11AP (5)

10 Dec. 2018

The Mediocre Best Friend

Maybe it was after I didn't make the volleyball team. Maybe it was after I failed the history test. Maybe it was after I got the role of bird number three in the play. I couldn't really put a time and place to it. But it is quite simple. I, Leigh Mahoney, have come to the realization I have no talents. I know that seems awfully pessimistic but it is the factual truth. When it comes to trying new things, I don't stray. I have really tried it all: sports, music, art, cooking, academics. There is no place where I truly thrive. However, I have found myself extremely good at one thing... forming relationships with people.

Throughout my entire life I have always made friends very easily, which seems kind of surprising considering my level of awkwardness. By level of awkwardness I mean lack of skill in pretty much everything. I can mess up even the simplest of tasks. I manage to make the easiests jobs in the world a million times harder, then fail to complete them.

What do I mean? My mom could say to me, "Run upstairs and get my glasses."

I would come back five minutes later, empty handed, complaining "I couldn't find them and searched everywhere." She would then go back up and find them instantly. And I'd always end up thinking, "How did I manage to screw that up?"

That is just one occurrence that happens regularly, proving my incapabilities. Not only am I incapable at simple tasks, I have yet to find a talent or even something that I am really good at. I have took part in many excursions trying to discover my talents: singing, guitar, clarinet, lacrosse, track, cooking, but nothing seemed to fit. By the time I entered in high school, I accepted the fact that I was talentless. My life became a cycle, working hard in school, practicing volleyball, and hanging out with my friends. However, with school and volleyball, I'd work to end up being mediocre. Sure I took part in other activities here and there, but this was the core of my life.

One day, early on in my junior year of high school I had a realization. My life has been made up of many failures. I have pretty much proved myself talentless in every field. And somehow, anything I tried, always resulted in me making a friend. That's when it made sense. My talent is making friends. It then got me thinking, "Maybe I don't have any true talents because I always try so hard to make friends and form relationships with people that I lose focus on the original goal. And those little goals I made in the beginning of trying something new every time, were just getting in the way of my main life goal -- making the best possible friends."

I have continuously found myself making long-lasting friendships, which is something that most people cannot say. The most effort I have ever put into anything has been into friendships. I have close friends all around. Some live in different states. Some go to different schools. Some go to the same school. But no matter what barriers are put between us, I try to maintain our friendship.

In the summer of 2014, I went to sleepaway camp in Northeast, Maryland. The nerves were really getting to me considering the fact that I only knew one person there and I was about to be away from my parents for two whole weeks. After being in the cabin for only a short hour, I bumped into this one girl, Casey, and we started talking. She said she was from Washington D.C. and I told her I was from West Chester, Pennsylvania. As the words were coming out of my mouth she jumped and excitedly announced, "My grandma lives there!"

"No way!" I screamed, getting me so much more excited for what was in store. The next two weeks brought the most fun I ever had. As camp was winding down and we were saying our goodbyes, Casey gave me the biggest hug ever and said, "We don't have to be sad about leaving each other because I can come visit you whenever I see my grandma!" And at first, I thought I was just going to have false hope and we would never actually arrange to meet up, but I was wrong. It's been almost five years and we see each other about four times a year, which doesn't seem like a lot, but it's enough. I am happy to say that Casey is one of my best friends and the distance between us doesn't change anything.

My friendship with Casey is just one example of the efforts I put into relationships. It proves how strong I can build my relationships with people anywhere. And by no means do I believe I should just be friends with everyone. I believe in making meaningful, lasting human relationships, regardless of the inconveniences between the people.

And although having a talent would be nice, having best friends is better. It makes me realize, "It doesn't matter how talented you are, as long as you have the right people in your life, who support you through anything, you can do anything."