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Senior reflections: Life lessons from Waffle House and Walmart

January 01, 2020

It was one of the first Friday nights of my freshman year, and it started with four of us. At 10 p.m., we decided we were going to eat at – where else – Waffle House. We kept inviting friends to hang out and we gathered almost 20 people.

Our group showed up to Waffle House and took up half the place. We were loud and probably super obnoxious. Once we finished eating, we didn’t want the party to end.

But where’s the next place to go in the middle of the night? Walmart.

We were the only people in the store. We ran around, we yelled and we laughed. When we saw how annoyed the workers were, we bought a huge pink ball and left. What for? We had no idea at the time; we just always wanted one of them and our moms never got it for us.

We get back to school, and we still don’t want the party to end. Our group takes the ball down to the lower Francie parking lot and we play monkey in the middle for hours.

I remember looking around at the faces in the group and thinking, “This is it. These are my friends for the rest of my life.”

Looking back at that wonderful night, its strange to see who was in my life freshman year to senior year. I thought that group would hold on to each other forever, but throughout the next four years, our lives would change. We would grow, sometimes together and sometimes apart, and nothing was wrong with that. I wish I would have known my freshman year that it would happen; maybe it would have saved me from some hurt and heartbreak.

But looking back, I’m thankful for the time and friendship I had with each person in the group that night. I’m even more thankful to my devoted friends who have stayed by my side through my darkest days and my highest highs. Some of those beautiful faces with bright personalities and humor that makes your ribs crack will forever be in my heart and in my life.

My advice to you is to value the friendships you make here, however they change over the years. You will meet friends for life. And you will meet friends for a moment. Cherish your memories. Take pictures. And never pass on a late-night Waffle House run.

Sarah Davis Ouachita Baptist University By Sarah Davis, a senior mass communications and Christian studies/Christian ministry double major from Beebe, Ark.


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