Guest Blog: Robyn Keller

Robyn so kindly wrote me a guest blog!

Friendship is not something that will happen overnight. It will take days, weeks, and months to truly find your real friends. Sometimes it will even take years.

When I went to college in the fall of 2008, I thought that all the friends I had from back home would still be there for me when I needed them. Throughout high school, they told me they would always have my back no matter what.

But I found out the hard way when I got to college that not all of them would be there for me. They were only there when times were good or when they needed something, but once the shoe was on the other foot, they had disappeared. They weren’t going to be there for me when I needed help.

As my first semester of college got underway, I started to make some new friends. These people, I thought, would be there for me no matter what. I once again found out that not everyone I thought was my friend would be there for me.

There are a few of those people who I considered my friends who did stay by my side in the dark moments. They were the ones who supported me through a really difficult decision and were there when I needed someone to talk to. Those people are the reason I am still here today.

When I left the University of Mary to go to the University of North Dakota, those people who were real were still there for me. I learned to cherish my time with them, but also to cherish the random acts of kindness I got from them. Who knew that a simple phone call or text could make your day so much brighter!

While I was at UND, I really struggled to find good friends, ones who would accept me for me. I tried so hard to fit in that I ended up making friends with the bad crowd. I think you know what I mean. The crowd whose only desire is to drink as much as they can and they only like you when they are drunk. When they are sober, they want nothing to do with you.


When I finally realized that Bismarck was where I needed to be and where I wanted to be, I withdrew from UND and transferred back to Mary.

During my time off before starting school again, I realized that I had real friends in my life. These are the people who would do anything to see me smile. They were the ones who, when something devastating happened, would call or text me to find out what they could do to help me. They were the ones who would listen to the things I wasn’t saying and offer their help in any way they could.

Finding these types of friends isn’t impossible. I firmly believe that you need to go through some shitty friendships to find what you truly deserve, what is truly real. And when you do, those friendships become priceless.