My Best Friend

Many people are lucky if they make it through life with one best friend. Honestly, if they make it through life with a few good acquaintances, they are probably doing well. I knew people growing up that couldn’t tell me who their best friend was, because they didn’t feel like they had one. Just the other day I ran into a woman and we started chatting about our kids. She mentioned that her pre-teen came home from school and threw herself on the bed, sobbing uncontrollably, because she didn’t have a best friend. My heart broke in two for that little girl. (Even though her mom and I both know she has lots of friends. Hello, hormones!) I have been SO fortunate in my life to have a number of people I have called “bests”. Some of us have been through the ringer and come out on the other side, stronger than ever. Knowing that you have a person who will go to bat for you, or simply hold you when you cry, is more comfort than I can imagine.

Kristen and I met in preschool! We were three years old and immediate best friends. Her mom always told the story about being at a parent meeting and standing up to ask the room, “Who is Elizabeth’s mom?” because all she ever heard was Elizabeth this and Elizabeth that. Aside from preschool, Kristen and I never went to the same school. We lived in separate towns for majority of our lives and were even pen pals across state lines for years. Her house was the first place I watched Pretty Woman, the house I felt the safest in (other than my own), and the one where I learned that family isn’t necessarily genetic. After her first child was born, our friendship took on a new maturity. It wasn’t just us anymore. Our friendship included discussions about love and family, about what would happen to our children if something happened to us, religion, hopes, dreams, and everything in between. Over the years, I have babysat her kids while she went out of state, I took care of them through the night when she was ill, and I put countless miles on the Ford going to see her almost every weekend. She assured me I’d always be a part of her family, even if I never married and had one of my own. (She often told me she even selfishly hoped I’d never marry so I’d always be hers.) She has cleaned up my puke (a HUGE thing for her to overcome) and made sure that I always knew I was loved. I have known this beautiful soul for over 90% of my life.

Drew and I met in the 8th grade when I was the new kid at QJHS. I was sitting behind him during an assembly and I apparently said something hilarious and it made him turn around and see who this amazing creature was in his presence! We were instant best friends. I loved him for everything he was and everything I knew he wasn’t ready to be yet. He completed me in a way I had no idea I needed. His friendship made me whole. When I moved to Oklahoma after graduation, he came to visit me more than any other friends, combined. He took me shopping and we played “What Not To Wear”, we ate delicious food at Abuelo’s and then called the restaurant pretending to have a food allergy and needing the recipe for their Avocado Dip. We got tattoos together, piercings together, and bonded fiercely over our changing views of ourselves and our lives. When I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get married or have children, he promised to donate so I could be a Mommy. Our little German/Cuban cuties would have been the bee’s knees! To this day, I can’t imagine the last 23 years without him. He met and immediately fell in love with my college roommates and became part of this new “family”, he was my Dude of Honor and stood up with me at my wedding, and he loves and adores my children as if they were his own. He is my person.

Suzanne and I also met in the 8th grade. We were assigned a team project in our history class where we had to interview each other. She told me all about her family and I told her how I was new to the state. She took me under her wing and became a huge part of my adolescence. She, another girl and I called ourselves the “Party Bomb” because we brought the party (and the excitement!) no matter where we went. We had slumber parties at her house all through high school where we would listen to Kenny G, light candles, and cry. Haha! Oh my word…we were a team. We camped out in her back yard and poured beer in our hair as conditioner. To this day, I don’t think her dad believed us when the beer cans were missing from the fridge. Her home was like a second home and she was my sister. Suzzi Q and Lizzi G, 4-ever. We drifted apart over the years, but I am so proud to call her my friend to this day and very happy we have had the opportunity to reconnect.

Sherene and I met as juniors in high school. She moved to town as the new kid and she fit my personality to a tee. She would always say that I was her only friend (although that was not true), and it made me feel so important. We did a lot of growing up together in an emotional sense. We were there for each other through some of the toughest moments of our young lives. Divorce, break ups, moves…we went through it all and did so with more inside jokes than I think anyone could imagine. I’ll never eat a Crunch Bar or a Dove Truffle without thinking of her!

Caitlin and I share a brain and agree on just about everything. We are as different as two people can be, but I feel like our hearts were meant to be friends. We met in college when we started living together as roommates and so many of my memories in my 20’s are thanks in part to her. She is a devoted wife and an exceptional mother. She is hilarious, kind, sensitive, and gets me in every way. I want to be more like her in so many ways. In addition, she brings along her husband Edwin whom I consider one of my other favorites! Package deal!

Ultimately, I know that to call something or someone the “best” implies that they are above all others. I know that it is categorically impossible to have five ‘best’ friends, but each of them has made such a huge impact on my life and who I’ve become, that to call them anything but the best would be doing them a great disservice. I consider the fact that I can call them the best, to be proof that I lead a very blessed life.