What is the saddest time in high school that you remember?

My entire first year of high school in America was sad. I was a complete outsider because I had just moved to the United States from the Middle East. I had a weird name, crazy hair, bushy eyebrows, and I wore a members-only jacket that was a size 3 too big for me. (I know, I know) To add insult to injury, while I was with my new classmates, my countrymen took 100 of their countrymen hostage at an embassy in Iran.

I tried to mingle with them and make friends, but they kept me at arm's length. What I remember most clearly is the way they looked at me (as if I was some kind of guinea pig) and their reactions to me (as if I was speaking another language). It's not the end of the world, but to be fair, I needed help getting into a system that wasn't very happy with me.

Help. Her name is M, a senior. She is different from others. She is not afraid of me. She took an interest in me, chatted with me, and made me feel welcome. She has a kind, open, pure and compassionate nature. She even introduced me to a few of her friends and other upperclassmen, which helped my credibility a little bit. We were never close enough to "hang out" together, but I definitely considered her a guardian angel of sorts.

Having M on my side gave me the confidence to score points, which is what I ended up doing. At the end of the school year, she graduated and went to college, and unfortunately, we lost touch. PS: 30 years later, when I first joined Facebook, it seemed inevitable that I would try to look her up. I found someone I thought was m and I wrote her a message. Unfortunately, she didn't reply.

…until four years later! Somehow my email ended up in her spam/mysterious Facebook inbox and she only just discovered it. We are both happy to be back together after such a long time. She was still living in the US and she decided to come to the UK to see me and she booked a flight.

My boyfriend asked me some reasonable questions: "Are you crazy?" "You invited a 13-year-old girl you've only known for five minutes to come live with us for two weeks? "What if she changes? What if you two don't get along? What if she votes for Trump? (That last bit was a joke :-)

I told him I understood him doubt, but all I know is that she is still the same person in my memory. I said I trusted my instincts, and he had to trust me too. I feel that God has given me an opportunity to thank her, and I don’t want to miss this opportunity. So, here she comes.

We hit it off as soon as we met. We spent the next few weeks talking, laughing, shopping, reminiscing, cooking, and reflecting on the past nearly forty years of our adult lives. She spent some quality time with my son introducing him to Percy Jackson, who is now my son's favorite fictional character. She made us her pulled pork, which was my boyfriend's favorite and made him kinda want to marry her.

Her heart has not changed. She is still the same kind and compassionate person. I love her, my son loves her, and my partner loves her. We were sad to say goodbye to her when she left our home.

M and I feel lucky to have been given a second chance at a close and meaningful friendship. She is now officially an old friend of mine!