Flip flops and BFFs
Blog a day
Day 26: What is your favorite holiday or time of the year?
I don't have a favorite holiday as we don't really celebrate holidays. Thanksgiving is probably the "biggest" one because it's another excuse to cook.
Truly my favorite season is summer. It's warm, the sun is out, I can wear practically nothing and I get to wear my favorite of all shoes - flip flops. I'm a flip flop addict. Havaianas are my favorites. Also, I get to garden, admire my beautiful flowers, and sit outside, listen to my wind chimes and the fountain in my fish pond. (I think my fish like summer too.) I just love being outdoors.
Day 27: Tell me about your best friend
[Warning... long post...]
Throughout school I had packs of girlfriends and among them there was a BFF or two. Each unknowingly had something special about them that left a mark on my psyche. In culmination they have made me the person I am today.
My BFF in high school was Julie. She was adventurous because she was the youngest of four. They were into all sorts of sports and taught me to swim, shoot a gun, and snowmobile. I felt tremendously lucky because the family “adopted” me like I was one of them. That relationship fell apart as we became adults and is another of the things I regret losing.
When it was my turn in college it didn’t take me long to find that BFF of my burgeoning adult years. First day of art school Ellen picked me out of a crowd and invited me to join her table in the cafeteria. "You look like you're lost," she’d said. She looked like she belonged there, edgy, creatively dressed. Oozed “artist.” I looked like I'd stepped out of the pages of J. Crew catalog. Not "artsy", at all.
Day 26: What is your favorite holiday or time of the year?
Truly my favorite season is summer. It's warm, the sun is out, I can wear practically nothing and I get to wear my favorite of all shoes - flip flops. I'm a flip flop addict. Havaianas are my favorites. Also, I get to garden, admire my beautiful flowers, and sit outside, listen to my wind chimes and the fountain in my fish pond. (I think my fish like summer too.) I just love being outdoors.
Day 27: Tell me about your best friend
[Warning... long post...]
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| BFF Ellen (left) from college years |
Originally, this question made me kind of sad. Strangely enough I’m short of a best friend right now. Now I know many of you may insist “what about your husband?” Agreed, but I have to be honest and say I don’t define him as such. I’ve identified him as lover, care-taker, partner. Confidant, kindred spirit, or BFF? No.
I've had best-friends over the years. The very first was Laura when I was five. She was a neighbor and we walked to Kindergarten together. We shared similar tastes in sundresses (pinafores) and liked to ride bikes and play dolls. When my family moved away, I cried the whole trip to the new house. It was the first time I remember feeling loss.
Throughout school I had packs of girlfriends and among them there was a BFF or two. Each unknowingly had something special about them that left a mark on my psyche. In culmination they have made me the person I am today.
There was Lisa who threw the best sleepovers and could beat up her older brother albeit she was a peanut-of-a-person. Patty opened my eyes to a love of writing. Libby got me interested in the nature and Jane gave me the courage to talk to boys.
My BFF in high school was Julie. She was adventurous because she was the youngest of four. They were into all sorts of sports and taught me to swim, shoot a gun, and snowmobile. I felt tremendously lucky because the family “adopted” me like I was one of them. That relationship fell apart as we became adults and is another of the things I regret losing.
Renee, also a high school friend, was a year older. She was my first real taste of independence. Suffice to say with parents who were divorced and her mom working to make ends meet, we basically got the house to ourselves. She had the best sense of humor and whimsy. I don’t remember much about what we talked about on an intimate level, but I do remember laughing until my sides hurt. When she went off to college I never heard from her again. That is until recently, when she reappeared as a “friend invite” on Facebook. Something I lost was found again.
When it was my turn in college it didn’t take me long to find that BFF of my burgeoning adult years. First day of art school Ellen picked me out of a crowd and invited me to join her table in the cafeteria. "You look like you're lost," she’d said. She looked like she belonged there, edgy, creatively dressed. Oozed “artist.” I looked like I'd stepped out of the pages of J. Crew catalog. Not "artsy", at all.
However, I made her laugh and it made me feel good to make her laugh. She saw things in me I never saw in myself. She fueled my creativity and for the first time made me feel as if there was someone in “my corner.” To this day, she was one of the best friends I'd ever had.
Fast-forward to a current timeline. Marriage, children and careers have tended to interfere with the relationship process. Schedules and geography also played a role. I have many women I call friends. However, I tend to relate somewhat superficially to them. No long phone calls, it’s a text or email. Conversations tend to focus on news updates and have no emotional depth. Is it because we’ve stopped our development? We know everything at our age?
So here I am sharing my deepest, thoughts and feelings to strangers on a blog. My current BFF? The world, wide, web. Interesting.
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