Jessica and I have been best friends since 5th grade mainly under the pretense that we love to laugh. It was as simple as that. We had our differences--enough differences where an outsider looking in may wonder why were friends at all. And we also had our similarities--enough similarities where we could have become caught up in competition and ended up hating each other. But somehow, our differences kept our similarities in check. And most importantly, we found each other hilarious.
An integral and obvious part of friendship that is strangely overlooked sometimes, is how much you like the other person. I look around and I see so many friendships born from convenience, or even advantage. And I see that it results in two friends who, when it comes down to it, honestly don't even like each other. Growing up with Jessica taught me to never settle for such a relationship. I learned through her that the best friendships are the ones that come from a sincere desire to spend time with another person for no other reason than that you want to. To this day, that is all I look for in a friend, and it has resulted in the best collection of friends I could ever ask for.
Jessica and I will laugh about anything. We'll laugh at each other. We never miss an opportunity to capitalize on someone's mistake or misstep. (Currently remembering the time she silently watched me walk face first into a fire door on our way to lunch in high school. Her response: "I thought you saw it!!") We'll laugh with each other.(Like the time we both careened to the ground after fighting over a piece of paper in a conference room in middle school.) We'll laugh at other people. (Especially Jon when he went through his elementary school phase of following us everywhere...and accidentally followed us into the girl's bathroom at McDonald's.) (Apologies to Jon for being collaterally damaged in this post. Love you!) We laugh at TV shows and movies, and then laugh at each other as we re-quote those TV shows and movies, ("I have a new appreciation for the thong song"). We laugh at our parents, ("But I wanted to have a girls skating party!!"). The list could go on, because even on days where we weren't feeling particularly funny, we would force ourselves into some strange game or activity (sky dancer challenges, playing airplane, making ice cream, making whirlpools, etc.) that would ultimately result in one or both of us making a fool of ourselves.
Even now that, geographically, we are far apart, I never worry that anything will change. I have to believe that such a simple, sincere friendship cannot be rattled by anything. Sure, since the 5th grade lots of things have changed. We have changed. But I can't imagine a day where Jessica is no longer one of my favorite people. And that's a good enough qualification for a best friend as far as I'm concerned. Maybe the term "playing favorites" has gotten a bad rap.
Why shouldn't you be best friends with your favorite people? It's such a simple concept, but maybe one that I wouldn't have learned if it weren't for a great childhood friendship.
[In hindsight, I decided this post needed a picture. And this one was too perfect.]
Happy (early) birthday Jessica! As fun as it is to laugh at each other across the ocean, I can't wait until you're back here to laugh WITH me instead.
(P.S. Mancala was really not a fun game at all. Why did we play that so much?)
“You know what the secret is? It's so simple. We love one another. We're nice to one another. Do you know how rare that is?"
-Ann Brashares, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
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