First Semester Ghost Train

Mihir will not be returning to ACU next semester. This means that he will not be my roommate anymore. Mihir is going to go to a community college in Austin, work at a Starbucks or a bookstore or a record store, and live in an apartment. I am going to miss him. Next semester is going to be difficult, yet exciting, because most of my time at ACU was spent with Mihir. Maybe that's not true. But what's true is that the majority of the time I spent hanging out, being social, not doing schoolwork, was with Mihir. We would go smoke at the rocks together, or more recently, on the drains outside of Barrett. We would smoke by that storage unit behind the old folks home, with the motion detecting light that would eradicate any hope of secrecy. We went to the Leaf a few times and smoked in downtown Abilene. We did a lot of smoking, now that I recall. We would go to Hastings, and he would look through the records, always buying some even though he was always low on cash. He would sleep with his laptop going, playing a movie, something that I assume helped him sleep. He would get up and leave without saying anything (I learned to adjust). I would get him bread from the Bean. We would stay up late talking. That's one thing I'm going to miss. Mihir had insomnia, so he would be up watching movies, and I loved having someone to talk to. I'm going to miss that guy sitting propped up in his bed, spitting into a water bottle, playing his nasty black guitar (playing isn't just-he was making noise). I'm going to miss him.

But what excites me is that I no longer have a safe-haven friend to go to whenever I feel lonely or want to hang out. I'm going to have to make friends. Everything will be new again. Because, honestly, I haven't made any really close friends so far. I know that takes time, but I'm still acknowledging the fact that I haven't. I'm going to get to see what type of person I really am.

I sent this to Mihir, this is for Mihir, but I'm putting it here so I will have a copy of it in the future so I will remember life with him.

Mihir, I'm going to miss you man. Let's face it- we got really close this semester. I'm sad to see you go, because I depended on you so much this semester as a friend. We did everything together. But I'd rather see you alive, happy, motivated, than dying, depressed, and lazy. I hope Austin is everything you hope it will be for you. I hope you find your purpose in life down there somewhere. In a way, this is a closing chapter in our relationship, because we won't see each other for months on end. But I want you to know that you became a brother this semester (a little brother, I guess, because I was often taking care of you). I will always care about you man, you will always mean something to me. If you get lonely or if you think of something you've never thought of before at 3 am, don't hesitate to call or text me. And you are always welcome where ever I am. Love you man.