You've heard Mary's side of the story; now it's my turn! My name is Christine and I'm a high school English teacher. (Just because I'm a teacher doesn't mean I have perfect grammar. Feel free to send me edits or make comments about correct comma placement) I love my job, my family, and the life I've created for myself.
Mary and I met the second semester of our freshman year of college. The timing was perfect. I'd come to college without any friends and even though I'd met some lovely people that I'm still in touch with, I still hadn't found any friends that I felt were in the new best friend market. . . I'm not sure how making a best friend works, but I think this is part of it. A mutual friend introduced us by inviting us to dinner. The first time I saw Mary she was wearing a hot pink trench coat with a light pink shirt. I instantly thought this girl will either be super annoying or will become my best friend. (I think it's hilarious that both of our first strong memories of each other are polarizing.) Through dinner we realized we both went to the same church and had some of the same classes. Over time, we began doing more and more together. She introduced me to some of her lovely friends and we built a friendship. About a year into our friendship, we were at La Michaocana- a Mexican meat market/mini-grocery store- and I pointed out the fact that we had been friends for a year. Thus, our friendaversary tradition was born. On our second friendaversary, a new tradition emerged. At La Michaocana, we were discussing some of our new bargain clothing purchases and I said I felt bad that I bought stuff for myself, yet no gift to celebrate our friendship. Mary concluded that since we both purchased something for ourselves that could be our gift since we both wanted the other person to be happy! Rationalization at its best. Now, I attribute one purchase a year to myself as a friendaversary gift- after all, that's what Mary would want!
Friendaversaries were an integral part of keeping us together after college. We both moved back to our hometowns after college and were busy trying to sort out our own lives. There were a few years where we didn't see each other often and our friendaversary gave us a reason to absolutely insist that we put everything else aside and get together. I agree with what Mary said about effort whole-heartedly. I think that's what ultimately kept us friends for these past eight years. That and fun, laughter, inside jokes, and respect for each other and each other's choices.
We can't wait to hear about how you celebrate your friendships!
Stay tuned for our list of the top 20 movies that celebrate female friendships! FYI, there are way more movies devoted to male friendships- totally unfair!
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