ROBERTO and NATHALYN

"A Confidante even through the distance"

Roberto P. LaSet, 18, and a freshman in Princeton University is a friend I consider to be the strongest. I first met him in the middle of my sophomore year when he just moved to Freehold from Matawan. I entered Chemistry class and found him talking to the teacher. He kept on staring at us like we were a bunch of idiots or something (well, that was his first impression, as he said!). He was also in our gym and in my lunch, English, and Spanish class (Believe me, this guy spoke the worst Espanol ever…but who's complaining?). We hit it off right away and we talked a lot. Surprisingly, "Berto" was also in my bus living in the same development as me. I got to admit, Berto was one of the most annoying people I have ever seen from talking so much to stealing so much food from my house (reminds me of someone named Robin Greenfield?). But this guy was definitely something else. He was intelligent and most of all, he was strong. Amidst all his problems at home, he never gave up. I often accompanied him to places and over the summer, he came over to my store often while working at Mc Donald's. We also "played" a lot of tennis together, not exactly hitting the ball but we were holding the tennis racket properly! Because he had no transportation to get to work, I decided for his birthday, I would set up a surprise party for him along with the help of Robin Greenfield (who obviously was in love with him at the time) and Meera Patel. We all chipped in to buy him a bike (why not a car, everyone would ask? I don't think we had that kind of money!) so that he may travel to and from Mc Donald's with it. I was able to tell he was touched. I know he was….

With that, Berto and I became the best of friends. He moved to California over the summer and I felt so sad. But we constantly kept in touch with letters. While he was in California, him and Robin decided to take their friendship into another level. Her and I were thrilled to hear that Berto was coming to visit over the summer. For the 3 weeks he was here, Robin and I spent as much time with him as possible from going to the movies to going to the mall. Though things didn't last with him and Robin, their friendship still kept on going and going. As for him and I, we've always had something special.

Before leaving for the Philippines, Roberto and I had a long talk. We talked about all the things that went on for the past 3 years and all the problems we encountered. Together as close friends, we solved them step by step, hand in hand. He left me his Princeton sweatshirt the day before I was set to go and though we never got to play tennis before I left, I was still able to go walking around the neighborhood with him. He would never let go of this friendship and I know he would never let me go too-- because him and I have a really fabulous friendship and it will always be that way through the distance.

Lists of My Friends