What does it mean to be a friend?
A good friend is the person you willingly live with for several years.
A good friend is someone who you can confide in and can confide in you with stuff you don’t tell everyone.
A good friend encourages you to be better and reach for your dreams, someone who pushes you to do things you may not do on your own like move to China for a year.
A good friend is there when your roommate goes crazy to help you get through it.
A good friend is someone who stays up to three in the morning playing Settlers of Catan for the fifth night in a row.
A good friend is someone who keeps connected and concerned even when on different hemispheres.
Well, I think Aaron Stevens fits these definitions for me, so today I express gratitude for him as my friend.
I first met Aaron in 2005 as a student at LDS Business College in Salt Lake City. It was one of the first Sundays of the semester, and we were both in the same church congregation. He and his roommate invited me to join them at a dinner get-together with some girls in the group. Our second year at the BC we were roommates; then for the next three years at BYU.
Our last year at BYU we joked about going to China. He was all set to go considering China the new frontier and always having a desire to experience the orient and learn Mandarin. It was just a flighty thought then, but not a year later he decided he was going to do it. I had just spent the last several months looking for my first “real” job with not much success, so I said why not and started preparing myself for the unknown. I’m so glad I did. Thanks Aaron for encouraging me to do it. And thanks for exploring, enjoying, and begrudging China with me. Currently, he’s still in China in Beijing working on a master’s degree from the Beijing Film Academy.
Thank you Aaron for being a best friend.
