The Recipe for Friendship

My friends and I eat goldfish and raisins

in the same bowl

and the textures clash, but somehow the salty sweet

really works

my friends and I eat the outsides of carrots

leaving the core

because the core just tastes different

and I hadn't noticed it before.

My friends and I eat Welch's Halloween gummies in June

because we had so much left over from October

my friends and I eat sushi and cupcakes from Healthy Living

washed down with kombucha and iced tea

as an after school dinner between our busy lives.

My friends and I eat honey roasted peanuts out of the same refillable bottle

a never-ending supply for track meets and quick snacks

My friends and I eat spaghetti pie and mac and cheese

in the middle of band class when we have a break

and when our teacher catches us we race to finish because no scrap of pasta goes uneaten.

My friends and I eat three pounds of Twizzlers

Swedish Fish off the floor

and dandelions that definitely don't taste as good as they look.

My friends and I dare each other to put dead spiders in s'mores and eat it

and we almost did 

because why not? It's extra protein.

My friends and I eat Raclette and salad with my mom's famous dressing

hot dogs and lemonade by the lake

a perfect picnic to last the summer.

My friends and I eat memories together

lives shared through taste buds and baking mishaps

and every time I get sushi and cupcakes at Healthy Living

or mix together my raisins and goldfish

I'll think of my friends who cooked up these concoctions

and they'll always carry the bittersweet aftertaste 

of friendships past.