One of my writing professors (and a member of my senior thesis panel), Michelle Herman, wrote this really excellent book called The Middle of Everything that’s supposed to be about motherhood but is actually about best friends and how terrible life is when you don’t have one. It’s been years since I read it, but I thought about it last weekend while I was home in Ohio visiting my family and my best friend, Tracey.
When I moved away to New York without really so much as asking her what she thought of the idea, she should’ve given me up. If I’d been the one left behind for some stupid city she’d visited only twice where she only knew one person and didn’t have a job waiting for her, I first would’ve cried my eyes out and second would’ve deleted her number from my cellphone. Instead, Tracey sent me postcards and packages and called me and let me call her eight times a day all through that first year when I was so poor I could only visit, like, once.
Now that I’m toooootally rich and visit all the time, we pretty much spend all of our minutes together playing with her cats, watching TV marathons, visiting the one high school friend we still care about (inflammatory!), and eating all of the chain restaurant food you can’t get in NYC. Which is how it should be with best friends.
Highlights from my very short trip this weekend include trying on the tiniest purple fur vest at Forever 21 on our way into the premiere of Up:
and making this video that will only be awesome to us and our friend Eric Leath:
Imagine life without that.
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Thanks for editing my post-Dairy Queen stomach out of that video! Best Friends Forever!
And speaking of stomachs, I can’t believe that first set of pictures was taken just before we ate potato skins and buffalo wings. Gluttony!
I have 25 large birthday cupcakes sitting behind my desk as we speak. If you want to know true gluttony, meet me here in 2 hours, and we’ll eat them all ourselves.
I would LOVE to eat all of those before your co-workers can get to them. And for more reasons than gluttony, if you know what I mean.
Anthony wanted me to tell you that he took this video home after cropping it and has been “watching it over and over, hoping things will go bad” with Dan.
I didn’t realize he was the one who cropped it! Tell me doesn’t have access to the pre-cropped, giant-belly version. I’m horrified that he ever saw it.
Another one to add to the Amazon wishlist.
(Also, I kind of want a copy of every book the U of Nebraska press has ever published. So much good stuff!)
It really is so good. And she’s a neat lady, too.
I’d also like to recommend From Our House, which was written by my actual thesis advisor and is GREAT. I think it’ll be especially compelling for you, as it’s about life in the farmland.
Oh, aren’t you two just the girliest girls I ever saw.
No more girly than that icon of yours.