Besties

I love the word Besties. I didn't make it up, but I wish I had and at least - to me - it sounds like something I would come up with. I've heard it around and I'd filed it away, waiting to use it only once it felt authentic. So here I am putting my stamp on it - its one of my favorite things.

My mom used it the other day because she'd found her way to the blog of my high school Bestie. Before we went to school together, we went to summer camp together and I think we were archenemies there. We started school together in 5th grade where we tried to turn the tables on Angela Pizzo, the popular girl and simultaneously the class bully. In sixth grade, she was the first to know I started my period, even before my mom. She came along on many of my family camping trips at (we always said the full name because it was fun) Four Seasons Family Camping Area on Long Lake (although there was the time we tried to shorten it to an acronym, FSFCALL, which never stuck). We were on-again/off-again in the 7th and 8th grades, but when we were on we did things like watch Aileen's craft show - this was before the dawn of HGTV and I would say at that age watching Aileen's was not the most super cool thing to do.

High school was the best in terms of our friendship. The only classes we didnt have together were our languages, I took Latin and she took French. In one of my yearbooks she wrote that she didn't know what to make of our friendship - one minute we were having a blast and the next we were fighting like an old married couple, but through it all I was the one she knew she could count on. So many memories. Besties.

Through it all there was an unspoken competition. Since it was unspoken, I don't know if it was there for her, but for me it all stemmed from this one thing. "Done". For as long as I knew her, it was what she would say the instant she completed a test, a worksheet or any assignment. "Done", and she'd slam her pencil (and later in junior high and all through high school her erasable Bic pen) down on her desk. So from 5th grade on, this was my secret personal challenge - to be "Done" before her. I will say that only a handful of times did I actually say "Done" and slam my pen down.

Over the years she beat me at lots of things - Civic Oration, high school GPA, the good parts in school plays. Bitter? Way No. But when I got this email from my mom about the super fantastic successful blog of my old Bestie, it was like I could hear her say it: "Done", under her breath, punctuated by the clattering of her pencil on her desk, except this time I didnt even know we had the same assignment.

As I scrolled through the pages of her blog, I could say I took a stroll down Memory Lane - but it was more like my life flashed before my eyes. All the times I've sat down to write "my book", all the projects I've finished and thought "people would buy that", the costumes the kids have encouraged me to sell, the times people have said "there's a market for that"; basically, the things I've never put to use.

After reading her blog, my mom said "She's very creative and obviously talented. I know a long lost friend of hers that is just as creative and talented. That's probably why they were besties :)" La la la. Its like old times. "Done". This time around, I don't see it as a challenge. This time she's not my secret rival, this time she's my inspiration. Cheers to you, Jess! (and read my Blog!!)!