Thursday, April 15, 2010

Friends Forever


This week, I finally got a chance to crack open the May issue of Glamour. The current issue is all about friends (Former "Hills" star Lauren Conrad is on the cover, and an interview and adorable photo spread with her posse-- Whitney and Lo-- is inside).

Every month, the magazine's masthead features a question posed to Glamour staff. This month's is "Who is your best friend, and how did you meet?" The moment I read this, I started reminiscing. Like marketing manager Julia Olson, I found my bestie on the elementary school playground.

It was third grade. I had recently "broken up" with my first best friend, Kristen. Kristen was the reason I went to White Oak Elementary School instead of a private school in Simi, like my brother did. She lived right around the corner from me and we became fast friends. But soon enough she started hanging out with the more popular kids and suddenly I didn't cut it. I'd call to come over, but she said I couldn't; she already had a friend over. Eventually, I gave up. For a 7 year old, you can imagine the devastation I felt.

So, like I said, it was third grade. One day during recess-- or maybe it was lunch, I can't remember-- I was sitting on the blacktop, my back against the handball court, looking at the world and wishing I had a friend to play with. While scanning the playground, my eyes fell on a group of girls sitting at a picnic table. They looked like they were having so much fun. If my memory serves me correctly, I think they were forming a pretend club and assigning each other pretend titles, you know, president, vice president, secretary. Somehow, shy me mustered the bravery to walk over and ask, in a timid voice, "Can I play with you?"

The answer came easily from Marielle: "Sure." At the time, fun-loving, gregarious Marielle didn't realize how much this simple welcome meant to me. But as they say, the rest is history. Seventeen years later, we are still best friends.


Sure, we've been through our ups and downs, had a handful of fights, shed a few tears, struggled to find the time to get together as our adult responsibilities have taken over. But no matter how long we go between visits, we always pick up right back where we started. We can be so different at times and yet, we get each other, we understand each other-- sometimes better than we know ourselves. I can always count on her to give it to me straight, there's no sugar-coating with her. And I am always there to lend an ear when she needs to vent and I never judge her like others have. We simply love each other unconditionally. What more could a girl ask for?


So now I want to know: Who is your best friend, and how did you meet?



Swings image via ffffound

8 comments:

Phoenix said...

Such a sweet post! I've got a handful of besties (I know, I know, totally cheating) but since I'm a Gemini I figure I'm allowed - one best friend for each personality. :)

And for my best friend Alyssa, it's her birthday today, so this week I'm thinking about her lots and lots.

Great idea for a blog post!

Amber said...

I have had the same best friend since Kindergarten! We are very different people now, but we still talk once or twice a week and try to see each other a few times a year.

My other best friend is someone that I met three years ago in college - we were inseparable for two years and now that we live apart we talk all the time! I have another very close friend who just moved across the country and I hope we stay in touch because I miss her a lot already!

Great post and I love that photo of you guys!

Andhari said...

That's such a beautiful story. A friend like that is hard to find. Wow, you guys go REALLY way back :)

I met my best friend in high school :)

Erin {pughs' news} said...

How wonderful to have grown up with your best friend by your side.

I have several really close friends but my best friend is Em. She lives in France and we don't see each other very often at all, but we write and talk and text and are constantly in touch. We met in university (she was my good friend's roommate) and have been great friends ever since. We plan on keeping it that way well into our 90s! (I wrote a bit about her here if you want to take a look: http://pughs-news.blogspot.com/2009/09/lucky.html

Happy Weekend, Carissa!

Heather Taylor said...

I love this story so much! I used to play pretend clubs when I was little too with my friends.
I actually have several very close friends, but we always seem to meet when there is food involved. I met Melissa at my former job at Subway when she was first hired, Randi during a dinnertime at school, Sara at a gala event, and my roommate Tiffany when she was making Ramen noodles at the stove where my dorm candy shop was next to. And we are all still very close friends. Food brought us together!

Imogen said...

I know that this is so random but I was typing random things into google when I was supposed to be finding an image of L.A Candy but stumbled upon your blog. You mentioned Lauren Conrad and she wrote L.A Candy. Off to do review of said book now, sorry for the random outburst about the coincidence.

Shoshanah said...

As crazy as it may sound, I've known my best friend since birth! Seriously, I used to say we became friends in utero. Our moms actually met in their conversion to Judaism class, and my parent's went to her's wedding. We were born about two weeks about, and we pretty much raised as sisters. When we were little our moms used to trade days off so one would have both of us and the other would do errands. And it's 25 years later and we still consider each other best friends.

mina said...

i love that first photo - it's stunning!