Adrean Walls

Listen, I didn’t grow up here. Not even close. But I moved here to go to college and just kind of stayed.

Before long, I was a father—and that is wonderful and magical, but it can also break your heart.

I watched as my boy—the absolute joy of my life—went through his early life without a friend. Maybe I was around too much or maybe it was just his personality, but that is what I watched. For years. He wasn’t sad. He didn’t stand around wishing he had friends. He was happy. But I worried.

But then he went away for the week to Outdoor School.

The child that returned was not the same. He had friends. Lots and lots of friends. Something clicked while he was there and it just changed everything.