The picture above was taken way with my best friend way back in 11th grade. Yes, the huge dork on the left is me. No, I did not dress in all black on a regular basis. I was in charge of the props for 4 years for all our high school musicals (sometimes I had to run onstage to bring them on and off thus I had to dress in all black). The prop in my hands is what my best friend, Kara, and I refer to as the "creepy Blair Witch candle thing". This was taken for our high school production of Brigadoon my junior year. Kara was obviously a candle salesman/creepy witch with neon hair. This is the oldest picture I think I have of the two of us. Mostly I love it because of how ridiculous we both look. It reminds me of how awkward I was in high school, but how my best friend was kind of awkward too so it was all good.
I'd love to say Kara and I have been best friends since we were little kids, but that wouldn't be true. We went to elementary school together, rode the same bus for years, she's in all my first Communion photos standing right behind me, she lived only a couple blocks away, but somehow we did not become friends until 9th grade. When we did we became pretty fast friends. We both were huge Mets fans and I could tell more than a few stories about trips to Shea Stadium to cheer on our favorite Norwegian first baseman, John Olerud. We didn't have the same taste in TV (she loved the X Files, I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or music (she loved the Monkees and They Might Be Giants, I loved Bush and the Offspring), but that made no difference. She was the friend who I reserved the best page in my Yearbook for (and who would write 2 pages worth of inside jokes that STILL make me laugh to this day to read). She was the friend I'd "talk" to on the phone every day, even when talking just meant I played the piano over the phone and she listened to me mess up or zoning out and saying nothing while flipping through the channels. She was the friend whose house I ran to when my brother and my parents were fighting so badly I couldn't take it anymore. Whenever I laugh at how silly my high school students can be I always just think of Kara and laugh. We were such goofballs and had so many ridiculous inside jokes.
Sadly, most of my college years were "pre-Facebook" and we were both lousy about keeping in touch. We'd get together maybe once a year when I returned home to NY, but no more than that. I sadly knew very little about what was going on in her life - what she was majoring in, how college was, who she was dating (the man who would one day be her husband). I hate that it took a tragedy for us to reconnect, but only after her mom passed away did we really start talking again on a regular basis.
She is now the person I can call in Charlottesville and hang up with two hours later when I'm home in Lynchburg. She's the person who inspired me to get back into long-distance running and to take up blogging. She's the friend I can call just to vent to who I know will always listen and understand, even if she doesn't agree. She's the friend I want to call right after a really good first date. She's the friend I want to call right after a really awful one. She is who I call when I need someone to talk me down from contacting my ex. Looking back at that ridiculously embarrassing photo of the two of us as teenagers or one like this of the two of us at our Senior Prom makes me feel so old.
It's crazy to think about the fact that I was the maid of honor at her wedding and gave a toast (in which I managed to incorporate both the Monkees and John Olerud) or that the next time I see her I will be meeting her little boy. Despite how creepy I look in this last picture I love it. To me it sums up how goofy and crazy we both are. We attempted to learn the Thriller Dance so we could do it at her wedding. It didn't achieve quite the same success as when Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo do it in 13 Going On 30, but we got quite a few people out of their seats! I know Kara will be there at my wedding (whenever that may be) and I can't wait to see where the next ten years of friendship take us.
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