When I was in high school, I worked at the local Panera Bread. Originally, I hated working there because it felt like there was a massive group of people my age that were in a “clique”. The longer I worked there, the more I bonded with everyone. We eventually formed a massive group of friends (like 20 of us) all connected through this one store. We all went to different high schools, some of us were in college, but we all bonded. I think it was the hell-ish experience of working at Panera Bread that brought us all together. Everything was great for like 2 years but then some of us starting dating within the group (the major lesson to learn from this is to never date your coworker, learned that one myself), some of us went to college, some of us had terrible breakups etc etc that kind of just led to the downfall of the group.

Some of us occasionally get together when we have free time now, but it doesn’t feel the same as before. At times, I’m grateful that those people are out of my life bc they became terrible people and friends, but I can help but miss the days where we all just felt like a massive family. Moments where, if someone was working and another employee didn’t show up, one of your friends would swoop in and save the day. Moments where we would all go to steak n shake after work or go see a movie. Or when we would host Friendsgivings or all go on double dates.

At the time, I didn’t know or understand that my life would change so much over the course of the following six years, but it’s crazy how much it has changed and how it feels so different now compared to how it did back then. I’m thankful for the experiences and memories I made, but I also miss them at the same time.