#mermaidpuberty
Alex and I have been friends for thirteen years this September. (Sorry, Kathy, but you probably should have moved in ‘99.)
It’s incredible, really, to think that (a) I am old enough to say things like, “I remember thirteen years ago when…,” (b) we have managed to stay close, across state divides and the like, after over a decade, and (c) we somehow still get immense pleasure out of discussing the ribbon-dance opening in Cadet Kelly, how she kissed Robert Clarke, and how we have really good taste in media.
Probably not the takeaway I should have gotten, but after seeing Bully earlier this week, I realized how I’ve had great friends for over half my life, and didn’t really have to go through school problems alone. (The first half of my life doesn’t count, because everyone knows elementary school friends are 90% likely to be awful.) It was easy to laugh at people who picked on me because I had people to laugh with. And even though I never realized it at the time, having a safety net of people definitely shielded me from ever letting racist/generic teasing get to me. Which is really, really fortunate.
So I guess, in the end, what I’m saying is this: Alex and I survived Y2K together, and that’s pretty amazing.
