Will you be my friend?
I was reading a post at Beth’s Club Mom site the other day about meeting friends as a shy stay-at-home-mom and got to thinking about how I have met some of my friends.
I’m lucky. I have lots of aquaintances, several friends and a few sisters from different mothers. (It doesn’t quite sound as good as brothers from different mothers, but what the heck?) I have a few lovely ladies who I consider my “best friends.” How very junior high of me, right? In thinking about how I met each of them, most of the stories are kind of boring (met in a university class, met through our mothers in junior high, met through a friend…yada yada yada) but one makes me laugh every time I think about it.
My best friend - let’s call her “Leah” - (actually, that’s what everyone calls her. I’m not very creative, am I?) was one brave bird when we met.
Thirteen years ago, I was outside in the courtyard at the college that I attended for a year before transferring to university. I had just finished a workout and was a little worse for wear in my sweats and pigtails. I was sitting on a bench relaxing in the sun when she came out for a cigarette (yes, yuck, I know). Picture it. She, in her mauve roper jeans and lace-up cow-boots and me, in my sweats, runners and oversized t-shirt hiding a sweaty sports bra. She looked me up and down as new college students will and I smiled at her. She tells me that the voices in her head went something like this:
“Oh my God. I can’t believe I’m going to talk to someone who wears sweats in public. She looks friendly enough. Oh, how embarassing. I don’t have to tell anyone that I have a friend who wears sweats, right?”
And out of her mouth came “Hey. Do you want to be my friend?”
I smiled, said “Sure!” and we’ve been friends ever since.
She no longer dresses like a cow-chick, has two beautiful children with her fabulous husband and lives two hours from me. She was the first non-blood relative to come meet Ry-guy in the hospital when he was born. She called daily for his first two weeks to make sure we were all okay. At one point, we went over two years without talking and when we hooked up again it was like we had just gotten drunk together yesterday.
And I still wear sweats in public.
How did you meet your best friend? How do you meet friends now?
August 23rd, 2006 at 10:06 pm
OMGoodness, that is a GREAT story! “wanna be my friend” that is the greatest!! how sweet of her!
She is sweet. And hilarious. You’d love her. Everyone does!
August 23rd, 2006 at 10:31 pm
hehe knowing the girl you call Leah … that is so perfect!! I think that is how i met her too!!!
It is hard to meet people when moving to new places. My daughter breaks the ice for me now!! YAY for Mom’s clubs and playdates because is pretty much my social life!
Thank God for kids! At least if you don’t have friends, you’ll still have somone to hang out with!
August 24th, 2006 at 8:41 am
I met my oldest best friend at a party when I was 18 - we were the only two people not doing coke, opting to dance (just the two of us) instead.
And that was 18 years ago…!
Wow! Way to go on the not doing coke thing!
August 24th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
Your story was great, I enjoyed it!
I met my best friend twenty years ago–I was 15 then–at church. Sounds tame right? Not! I was sitting on the same pew with her, when I opened my mouth to yawn, and it came out as a VERY loud burp that echoed throughout the whole auditorium. “Gabby” started laughing, which started me giggling, bringing very stern looks from our parents which made us laugh even harder. After church we started talking, and instantly became friends; We were inseperable, and people called us “Lucy”–me–and ‘Ethel” (Gabby).
I usually make new friends through hubby, or through my kids.
Hehe! Only you, Deb!
August 24th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
I met my best friend 20 years ago and we’re still best friends! We met in school and just really hit it off…we’ve managed to keep in touch even though our father’s were in the military and we never lived in the same place as each other again! She’s wonderful and we can pick up where we left off -it’s so nice to have friends like that!
That’s awesome! I was a military brat too, and am not in contact with anyone who moved away anymore.
August 24th, 2006 at 3:23 pm
My friends are usually online and online only. I meet them through gaming for the most part. My best friend is my Mother.
My husband and mom are my very best friends - I know the feeling - but I love my girlfriends too, just differently.
August 27th, 2006 at 7:03 pm
I’ve been meeting a lot of great ladies thru the blogosphere lately.