Best friend is a fairly relative term. If we're talking my longest-closest friend that would be Shannon. We met in kindergarten/church/piercing pagoda. Actually that last bit is funny, we've never pierced any portion of our ears without each other. I was in her wedding 4 years ago and we have regularly stayed in touch even though she moved away while we were still children. I wanted her in my wedding but finances and small children and traveling 800 miles wasn't in the cards.
There's my closest friend from college, Amy. We met through our church group and we share many more interests in common than me and Shan. She loves science, children and history just about as much as I do. Ames was a bridesmaid in my wedding and was completely indispensable.
But my very best friend, the one who I can tell anything, the one who's seen me at my worst and my best and loves every part of me is Carly.
Carly and I have known each other since middle school. We were in a few classes throughout middle school but we didn't really start clicking until high school. We had a lot of the same teachers, were both in the band. We started to hang out a lot more outside of school. Carls is quirky, intelligent. She's the one who got me interested in poi and The Internet (LJ first, Facebook, Google Mail).
The summer before she went off to law school we ran away to Europe for 33 days. I bought a car in France and we drove all throughout France, Germany, England, Scotland and Ireland. We slept in the car, we slept in our tent at campgrounds, in hostels and hotels. We visited my relatives and the ancestral lands of both Irish family and my Welsh side. LOADS of awesome memories! At a campground outside of Edinburgh we pitched the tent in the late arrivals section and made friends with some awesome guys from the Netherlands who had ex-pat to New Mexico and then left after their visas expired. We sat up late that night drinking Scottish wine around a fire discussing Tex Mex and where we were headed next. Carls is a neo-pagan and Stonehenge is interesting enough on it's own, but I surprised her with tickets inside the stones during sunrise. It was almost like the stones were singing; even to a Christian such as myself it was a very awe inspiring experience. Soooo many neat and awesome adventures that summer living out of a car with her. She was my maid of honor at my wedding. She recently got engaged (yay!) and I was in on the whole thing, helping her fiance pick out her ring and talking wedding stuffs.
She's unconventional, yes. Not the person I would have chosen to be my best friend if I'd had much choice, but fate/God is a funny thing. Never quite could escape each other and despite all of our differences we came to discover how similar we are. Just enough different to make it awesome! (Granted the ways in which we are different are kind of B.I.G. but we're able to accept each other as we are and love each other like sisters anyway. She is definitely the family I've chosen, as opposed to the family I was born into.)
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aww, I liked reading about your trip to Europe and the car :) Cute! It's fun to have a friend who is so different than you are, because I think it helps you figure yourself out, in a way?
ReplyDeleteGlad you have all of these friends in your life!
I think you're right about people who are very different from you helping you to realize who you are. Carls being so different from me has really helped me figure out where I stand, if only in relation to her. She's a very good person to talk to in terms of figuring out where you stand on just about anything. She's able to debate things without derision and she'll acknowledge important aspects of your position, even when she doesn't necessarily agree with them. Just a really neat person to have in your life! Love her to pieces!
ReplyDeleteHope you're doing well! Haven't seen much on the blog...been thinking about you and your mom and grandfather.