How J met A

This is fourteen years ago now.  Hard to believe.  I don’t remember exactly how we met. But I do remember how we bonded. Somehow we met so that our first night in college, at the freshmen mixer the school hosted, we knew each other’s names. It was a faux beach party in the middle of one of the dorm complexes, with tons of decorations and props. Beach balls were scattered among the crowd.  A and I quickly found one and tossed it back and forth a bit before losing it in the crowd. Upon going to recover it, we met the group of people who had caught it. An idea was born.  A and I, in spite of both of us being very inexperienced with boyfriends, were quite boy crazy.  Soon enough, we were throwing the beach ball in every direction, “accidentally” losing it to the cutest guys in the crowd. It was easy to start conversations as we recovered our beach ball. We ended the evening taking a long walk along the sea wall with two guys. We never dated or even kissed either of those guys, but they did become friends with whom we spent time throughout college and beyond.

More importantly, I became friends with A for college and beyond. That night of silliness could only happen because of a mutual courage we gave each other.  From that time forward, when I was with A, I was invincible.  I was brave, confident, funny and beautiful. And it wasn’t pretend or put on. It was my real me.  I think she felt the same way with me.  This helped when we were at the beach bars together, but it also helped when we led a youth group together. It happened when we had fun together, but also when we went through the trials of broken hearts, bad grades, family drama. We have laughed and cried, loved and lost, made decisions both reckless and wise, taken incriminating photos and destroyed them for each other. (At least I have destroyed them. A?)

A was my maid of honor and is the Godmother to my baby girl. When we are together, I know I can survive anything. When I talk to her, I get an infusion of joy and courage, no matter the topic. I am thankful for A and thankful to A every day.

-J