During Spring Break, I went to the beach with some friends. We left our dorm to head to Winco a half an hour later than planned. We spent approximately ten minutes in the store buying firewood, s’mores supplies and debating whether or not we should get hot dogs for dinner. Halfway into the hour and a half drive, we realized we had forgotten a lighter and had to stop at a gas station to pick one up. Eventually, with 30 minutes until sunset, we arrived on the windy Oregon beach – just enough time to explore the nearby cliffs. As the light retreated, we did the same and found our way back to the log where we planted our blankets and food, picking up sticks to use as skewers on the way – another detail we neglected. As the sky and water were engulfed in darkness, we used our 99-cent gas station lighter to start a fire. Of course, we had forgotten about kindling. Using whatever we could find, from spare Chipotle napkins to the grass scattered around us to an old butcher paper art project hiding in the trunk of the car, we tried to start our fire. After spending twenty minutes and almost all the lighter fluid trying to convince the wood to catch, we finally had a campfire to light up the night.

This was an evening of hiccups, but none of us saw it that way. It was an adventure with friends; we laughed at the stubborn fire, enjoyed our s’mores and hot dogs made on stray sticks and soaked in conversation with one another the entire time. Had we not enjoyed one another’s company and still made the trip, we would have called it quits. But when you find the right people, mistakes and missed details do not derail your train. They’re just railroad switches redirecting the journey.

The people you surround yourself with make everything worthwhile. They make watching a TV show, studying for a test or sitting in the car for five hours something to remember and not just mundane activities. They turn a Thursday night into a memorable sunset trip to the beach. When you find the right people, life’s moments aren’t just ticking by.

Typically, we don’t think of finding a solid group of people who will make these mundane tasks worthwhile. Instead, we think of finding one person – “the one,” to be exact. We believe that if we just find that person who gets us, we’ll be satisfied. And that desire to find that person is not bad, but it can detract from the power of relationships outside of romance. We crave love and forget that friendship love, which is different than romantic love, is powerful and sometimes exactly what we need.

It is platonic love, friendship, that gets us through everything. It forms a support group for tough times and a group of wacky cheerleaders who want you to succeed and thrive. It is what helps us feel understood and gives us a place in this great, confusing world. We all need it, and when we find it, living life becomes more exciting and interesting.

Find the people with whom you can share this pure, innocent love of friendship. Find your people: the people who challenge and encourage you; the people who get your quirks and accept them – even when they don’t understand them; the people who allow you to be wholly yourself. These are the people who you can laugh with as they roast garlic bread over a sad campfire or tragically drop their hot dogs in the sand, while also being the people you can talk to about everything that crosses your mind while you stare at the stars.