Tahirah
One of my longest friendships, going back to December 2022 -- over three years and counting. Tahirah has been a constant through every chapter of my life.
How We Met
Same school, same world, same everything. December 2022, which makes this one of the earliest friendships I have documented in my messages. It began in the classrooms and hallways and grew even bigger when distance entered the picture and we had to keep it alive across the gap.
The School Connection
The school references in our chats hit hard. "Coming to school" -- those were the days. "If someone from school saw it I would get eaten on Sunday" -- the fear of school gossip was REAL. It was a small world and everyone knew everyone's business. Tahirah and I navigated that world together, and those shared experiences created a bond that survived me literally leaving.
The Messy Parts
I'm not gonna pretend this friendship has been smooth sailing the whole time. "Why did you block me" -- yeah, that happened. We've had our moments. Arguments, blocking, unblocking, the whole dramatic cycle that happens when you're young and figuring out how friendships work. But here's the thing: we're still here. We're still talking. The friendship outlasted every fight, every misunderstanding, every dramatic moment.
That's actually what makes it real. The friendships that survive the messy parts are the ones that matter. Anyone can be friends when everything's good. It's the people who stick around through the "why did you block me" era that end up being your people. The willingness to come back after a fight, to say "okay that was dumb, let's move on" -- that's maturity beyond our age, and I'm proud of both of us for getting there.
The Real Check-Ins
"How's life been" -- Tahirah asks this and actually means it. Not as a conversation starter that leads nowhere, but as a genuine question that opens up actual conversation. We talk about life, school, what's going on, what's hard, what's good. The check-ins aren't surface-level. Even with distance between us, we make the effort to actually know what's happening in each other's lives.
What Tahirah Means to Me
Tahirah is proof that some friendships are bigger than geography. We survived distance, survived arguments and blocking and all the chaos that comes with teenage friendships, and came out the other side stronger than ever.
She's seen both versions of me -- the kid who was scared of school gossip and the builder who's running startups. The fact that she's been there for both, that she stuck around through the transition and the drama and the distance, makes this one of the most important friendships I have.