Fox Creek was a place of imagination; although it was absolutely nothing but a slow moving river, an empty patch of dirt surrounded by trees. We made it into something more.

My best friend and I wondered out in a thick wooded area behind her apartments, we trudged out there through weeds and branches until we came to a clearing; the sun was peeking through the thick leaves of the trees and the brown, transparent water of the river in front of us was moving slowly down a slight hill, and damp leaves were plastered to the grainy moist dirt on the ground. We were amazed by all of the muddy junk we found in the overgrown grass and weeds. After scraped knuckles, bruised knees and dirty clothes we ended up with a toilet seat tire, a shelf tied to a tree, a bench and a dirty wet carpet. we made it into our patch of dirt; she would walk in and say "we're home!" she told me " this is our place, we made it, and nobody knows about it so don’t tell anybody." after time "our home" stayed the same, but our shelves were breaking down, our bench was dry rotting and our tire was filled with brown, soggy, dead leaves. Our home was aging and so were we. Eventually we abandoned our home and never went there anymore, when I think about the last time I was there I can picture the shelf dangling off of the tree by the yellow rope, barely holding onto the tree just by a few strands, and then there was nothing. No carpet, no bench and no tire.

When we first found that place of ours; "our home”, it was our innocence; it meant a place of our own a place for us to go, to get away and play. How we were so amazed by all of the junk just shows how innocent we actually were. It was a day of my youth I will never forget and I will never want to let go. I look at it like Peter Pan, and never wanting to grow up. Then it turned into just a place to sit and talk after we got older, but it was the place we bonded and built our trust and friendship. I didn’t realize at the time how much I would miss that place and that someday I would have to make the choice to grow away from my best friend just like we were growing away from our innocence and our imagination; our home. My friend started to turn to other things to preoccupy her time; drugs and alcohol was all that seemed to matter to her. She was bringing me down with her and I couldn’t see how far down I actually was. Too blind by my daze, I was never able to tell which way was up.

Fortunately for me I got a grip on reality and was able to pull myself up, I was able to take myself away from all of the drugs and all of the people that were holding me back. Although I saved myself from a life of addiction and struggle I regret abandoning her and all of our promises. My best friend that I had since kindergarten lives a life that revolves around heroin, and all I can see when I think about her life is the dead leaves in the tire and the shelf; just barely holding on by a few strands. Although I feel regret and selfishness for leaving her behind I am happy that I won’t be the 20 year old girl lying in a casket because of drugs.

I never thought back then that, this place would have been so important. I wish I could go back and have my best friend and my innocence back but now I can see how much of an accomplishment I've made and the struggle I have overcome, I wouldn't give it up for anything. Now I am a hard working individual and I plan on going far in life, I have pushed myself to extraordinary lengths and I realized how valuable my life is. After everything I have been through I realized that I had to give up somebody that meant a lot to me but it benefitted to me for the better. I could be struggling with an addiction and with nothing to look forward to in my future other than the next time I could get my hands on more drugs; my life could be very different right now if I never realized that I was better than that. I don't take my life for granted and I work hard to ensure that the life I will live in my future will be worth it. Over the past two years or so I have been able keep moving forward, slowly, like the river.