By ALEXANDER WEBSTER
alexander@readthereporter.com
College has a tendency to make high school friends drift apart. Whether you’re going to the same school or they’re across the country, it can be hard to remain friends during college. But when you happen to be back in town, there’s always a chance you can run into each other and reconnect.
At this year’s Street Dance on Aug. 3 in Downtown Noblesville, two friends, Emma Pearce and Lydia Althouse, with live music and dance competitions in the background, got a chance to reconnect after growing apart their freshman year of college.
“I went to IU and she went to Purdue, so we’re just far apart, and at rival colleges,” Pearce said.
Their friendship dates back to their middle school days in the classrooms of Noblesville West Middle School.
“I told Lydia that I liked her necklace, and then she went, ‘Thanks,’” Pearce said. “She was all Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and Divergent. We didn’t really talk a whole lot, but then we had French class together in high school, sophomore year.”
As Pearce and Althouse drifted apart, it wasn’t obvious to either of them what happened. It wasn’t until the dance that they realized how much they had pulled apart.
“We just ran into each other here. I was like, is that Lydia? It kind of looks like Lydia,” Pearce said. “I just shouted her name and followed her down the street a little bit until she turned around and we started talking.”
Pearce and Althouse both admit that even with all the ways to stay connected with technology, they still fell out of touch.
“I’ve gotten really bad at texting,” Althouse said. “I used to be really good; I just stopped. I got Snapchat, and I’m so bad at it. I respond to people like once a month.”
Their story is an example of how, even if you’ve fallen out of touch with a friend, you shouldn’t be afraid to reach out. Whether it’s been months, years or even decades, you can still reconnect and find that spark in your friendship again.
The annual Street Dance always offers a chance to enjoy some of the great restaurants in Noblesville in addition to live music. (Reporter photos by Alexander Webster)