My friend, Rosie.

“I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort, where we overlap.”Ani DiFranco

In your opinion, what makes something different or diverse? Is it its shape, size, function, colour or smell? Now let’s apply this to people. What is diversity in humanity? Can it be someone who eats pineapple on their pizza? Personally, I wouldn’t be a pineapple on pizza kind of girl but I can respect the fruity cheese mixture. Alternatively it could be someone who religiously wears odd socks everyday or puts the milk in the bowl before the cereal? Or do you view diversity on a broader spectrum, such as culture, ethnicity or religion? Difference and diversity can form in all shapes and sizes, it may be a shake up of your daily routine, to go to a new coffee place and maybe try your americano with one sugar instead of three, it simply might be meeting a new person or making a new friend.

Quarantine has given me a lot of free time to think. I now have an abundance of hours to think about my future, think about my current situation in life and also to think about my past. Unfortunately most of the time people, including myself, overthink things they have regrettably done in the past but I have made a conscious decision not to do that. I want to think of my past freely and without hesitation or anguish. Once I allowed myself to do this, I began to think of my earlier years in Primary School, all the way back to my first day of school. On September 2nd, at the tender age of four, I made my way into Mrs O'Rourke’s classroom. As usual, we were the last family in the door meaning there were only a handful of seats open. With my parents' guidance, I made my way over to a free seat. I can still picture it now, walking over towards the tables, feeling both nervous and excited and seeing Rosie for the first time. I remember being in awe of her long dark hair which was placed into a tight plaited ponytail, her tanned skin and beautiful big brown eyes. I had never seen anyone like that before. I honestly think four year old me was extremely jealous of her hair, as it had me my whole life to grow my hair naturally into a short bob. As I sat next to her I was greeted with a kind smile and a friendly hello. As I try to think back I can only imagine how non judgmental and carefree our conversations were, both of us had only recently turned four, we were at our peak of innocence. After a few minutes of talking, it was official, I had a new best friend. Thus, began our lovely little friendship.

Myself and Rosie were inseparable from that moment onwards. As our close friendship grew, we learned about each other's likes and dislikes, one anothers families and played with one another every lunch time in the yard, the pinnacle of any relationship in primary school. Over the years, I have two significant memories from our friendship.. I can clearly remember my 5th birthday party and because I was a trendy 5 year old myself, all the girls and my Mum went to our local cinema, to see none other than Finding Nemo. My Mum recalls all of us opening our sweet wrappers during the movie and tossing them onto the ground, well that was everyone except Rosie. Rosie would walk over to my mum after every sweet she opened and would gently place each wrapper in her hand. Can you imagine a child being that concerned with keeping the cinema floor clean? I am 21 and I still struggle to be that aware of my surroundings.

Another notable memory I have was around Christmas time. As my family was and still is very much lastminute.com, we only bought my present for Rosie on Christmas Eve. The following day, I insisted that I had to give Rosie her present immediately. As we drove up, I expected her to live in a normal semi-detached house in a big estate, just like me but instead we were greeted by a massive stone entrance that opened up to a long driveway. I can clearly picture everyone in this ‘estate’ looking strangely at Dad and I as we drove along slowly looking out for Rosie’s house and I couldn’t understand why. We drove into her driveway and there was a small house on the right and two caravans on the left. I ran out of the car thinking how lucky she was that she had two caravans to go on camping holidays with. Within the hour of being there I realised Rosie's little house was where her kitchen, sitting room and bathroom was and that her bedroom was in one of the caravans with some of her sisters. Another wild fact about that day was that after my tour I got to ride around on the back of Rosie's quad as we did figure eight spins around her caravans. My Dad spent all of this time inside Rosie’s sitting room with her parents Willie and Mary drinking whiskey. It was clear that her house was far superior to mine and that I officially was having the best Christmas Day ever.

I think I always knew that Rosie and I were different because we looked different, talked different, had different mannerisms and lived in different places, but in my eyes that just made her all the more unique and special. As we grew and her cousins began to go to our school, we drifted slightly, but we always remained good friends. I also think we began to understand the social barriers between us and how our friendship may not have been viewed as the ‘norm’, but I don’t think we really cared. I always admired Rosie for her originality, especially within her own community. When we were younger she always dressed how she felt comfortable, wore her hair in different hairstyles and expressed a great interest in other people's lives, I always thought she would have been a nurse because of her kind and caring nature. Unfortunately, she was not always met with that same kindness and purity, as boys in our class would tease and call her and her family names. In school, I would make it my personal mission to stand up for anyone who I felt was being mistreated or disrespected by another, but one thing was for sure, Rosie was well able to look out for herself and stand up to those that spoke down to her or her family. She knew who she was and where she was from and was proud of family name and heritage. My admiration for her only grew from there.

As I began to write this blog I wondered how Rosie was and what she has been up to, so I decided to give her a quick message on Facebook. I always worried for Rosie, as I knew she had left school after completing her Junior Cert. I wanted her to live her gorgeous life to the fullest, to learn, to travel the world and to meet new people. And of course, knowing Rosie, she did just that. Her and her family settled into a beautiful new house in a small village outside of our main town. After she left school she decided not to waste any time and wanted to explore. She went to various parts of Spain, France and Bosnia for weeks at a time, soaking up the culture and the sun, meeting new people, as well as learning more about herself and the world around her. She is currently living and taking care of her parents, while also looking for a part time job within walking distance from her house. I on the other hand finished my Leaving Cert, then did my Leaving Cert again because once wasn't enough, until finally running off to Dublin City University to study Media and English. Like Rosie, I was lucky enough to have the freedom to travel and explore different countries and places. Even though our upbringing, background were and still are different and diverse, we are both just two 21 year old women trying to figure out our path in life. More than ten years on, myself and Rosie are at very different points in our life, but like most people we are headed for that same destination, self-acceptance and love. I always think its a beautiful thing to be able to say the first friend I made in primary school was Rosie McGinley. A proud, hardworking, caring, kind, adventurous, courageous, drop dead gorgeous, young, Traveller woman.