When you leave your home state at the age of 18, venturing beyond the little pond to the big sea, you start relying on friends as the umbilical cord of everyday life (since family is no longer a block away). They take on great importance and meaning, no way around it. Even as I have grown older and started a family of my own, and to my own chagrin have done a much poorer job of keeping in touch, these special people are no less important to me. And even though I have changed, as has my lifestyle from those swinging single days, I still treasure those who have had a profound impact on my life – all in unique and special ways.
I am going to start writing brief entries about meaningful friends, as a means to capture, as best I can, some of the treasured and special moments we shared way back when.
I have to start with Allen, as he just wrote for me the most special thing anyone has ever written for me. He knows…I know. I am going to print it out and put it in my wallet, read it when I’m sad or happy.
So anyway, here are some thoughts of Allen, and the picture he paints in my eyes.
I met Allen in graduate school, and probably didn’t get to know him well until my second year. I always respected Allen for his intelligence. He was accepted into the JD/MBA program at William and Mary, a high accomplishment in and of itself, but decided to forego law so he could get the hell out of dodge at a faster pace. Bearing this in mind, I have always turned to him for advice and help – during school and after – because I trust and admire his thoughts and perspective. But we also moved to Richmond for our first job after college, and purchased yellow labs weeks apart from one another. What more meaningful bond could be formed by means other than through our “children?” (Not only was Banks was one of the few dogs Shelby didn’t try to eat, but we mutually understood how devastating it was when we lost our precious angels).
1. Only Allen loves Out of Africa as much as I do.
2. He also knows how much I cherish The Sound of Music, and gave me the VHS collection after school (yes, we date ourselves).
3. He nurtured my addiction to Melrose Place, back in the day.
4. He’s a great cook. Remember that orange roughy one night at your apartment in Williamsburg?
5. He’s a phenomenal dancer, and I’m still bummed he didn’t come to our or wedding. I missed my dance partner.
6. He has more ties than I have shoes and sweaters combined. Remember when we went to your friend’s wedding and you laid out your ties and shirts across the bed for me to choose my favorite? I and my “no hose” so we had to go buy some on the way to the ceremony? (We did have fun going to weddings together – especially Jen’s).
7. He is the ONLY ONE ON EARTH who had the patience to drive along Mass Ave in Brookline for miles, with Shelby running back and forth across the back seat of my lovely Jetta, barking and slobbering like a fool. He never complained once (I still don’t know how you managed that one).
8. And during the same visit to Boston, endured my “no electricity” because I forgot to pay the bill. Again, no complaints.
9. He came to NJ for my 30th party and never laughed so hard as when we piled into my Jetta that snowy day for our adventures in NYC. Wasn’t that fun? I’m sure you thought we would never return from that outing.
10. We like to share sibling stories and brag about our special moms.
11. He worries about me like a sister. Or at least he did when I lived in New Jersey.
12. I know if I ever needed anything, Allen would be there for me. And he knows I’d do the same for him.
13. He didn’t make fun of my clothes, no matter how bad they got. (See below for proof).
