Hi my name is Rae and I am a Grey’s Anatomy addict. Ever since it debuted in March 2005, I have been hooked. Hooked so much that while I am waiting for the 14th season premiere, I am re-watching the whole series and just got started with season 9. Oh man, all of the feels! Tears, laughs and more tears. Lots and lots of tears. I love everything about the show. Mostly, I love Meredith and Christina and their friendship. They are best friends, they are confidants and through the good, the bad and the ugly, they never stop being there for each other, even when they want to hate each other. They are each other’s person. Which makes me think of my best friend. My confidant. My person.
November 1996 we had a new family move in across the street. I honestly don’t remember exactly how our first exchange went but I have a feeling it went sorta like this:
K: Hi, want to be friends?
Me: Sure!
And the rest is history. We legit became best friends from the beginning. She was 6, I was 9. We had the most amazing times growing up. There were summers when we dressed as the Spice Girls and danced on the sidewalk to their songs, went camping up north with her family or would take over her parent’s kitchen building the craziest Barbie world ever. My most embarrassing moment to date was one summer when we were camping with her family. Me and her thought we were so cool talking to these boys at the lake. Apparently, we forgot to pay attention to the time so her mom had the life guard announce over the megaphone (in front of the whole beach I might add!) “K and Rae, your mom says it’s time to leave.” Yeah…completely mortified. Ha! Over the years we have had our ups and downs, especially when I was around 17 and she was 14. For me, that was the biggest struggle age gap wise. I thought I was too old to have a friend that was her age and told her we couldn’t be friends anymore. When really, I just didn’t feel like I fit in with her. She had a wonderful group of friends she went to school with and I always felt like the odd man out. Nothing that she did, it was me being insecure and not knowing my place.
But over the years, she has shown me where my place is and it is right next to her. We have been through a lot. More than a lot of people. We’ve been through good and bad times. Happy and sad times. Scary, confusing and downright yucky times. But no matter what each other has done, been through or struggling with, we have always been there for each other. She is the friend that I could call any time of the day, and she would be there. She stood by my side the day I married my husband. Her speech made me cry. Just thinking about her speech brings me to tears. Darn you K!
She was the person who told me something wasn’t right with me when I told her I didn’t want to be married or be a mom anymore. She was the one who told me to go talk to my therapist because I wasn’t myself. The night I was first admitted into the psychiatric unit, she was there next to me as my husband called the doctor because I was suicidal. When my husband couldn’t stay with me in the ER that night, she picked up Burger King and sat in the waiting room for HOURS until they let her see me. And you know what she had when she came in the room? Burger King for the both of us. Cold Burger King. She didn’t eat her food for all of those hours. She waited to eat with me. I told her she was such a better friend than me because I would have eaten my food and hers if I was the one waiting.
These last couple years for me have been so hard and she has been there every step of the way. At times, she has literally dropped everything to be with me when my intrusive thoughts were too much or I was afraid to be alone. She doesn’t pretend to understand or act like she knows what I am going through. She is just there, and not just for me. She’s there for my husband and my kids. She always has been and I know she always will be.
I truly believe God puts certain people in your life for a reason because we are meant to be in community and not meant to do life alone. I am not meant to do life without her. She truly is one of the most amazing, beautiful, kind, caring person I know and she has such a loving and giving spirit. God didn’t hold back when He made her and I know God has plans for her. Big, wonderful plans and I can’t wait to be a part of them.
Everyone in life needs that one person in their life that will always be there for you. That will play devil’s advocate when you are being dumb or irrational. That will call you out on your crap and isn’t afraid when you throw a hissy fit. That will love you when you are hard to love or feel you aren’t worthy of love. That will not judge you when you have conversations that would make others cringe and is willing to support you when everyone else says they won’t. She is my absolute best friend. She is my sister. She is my person. And I am so thankful she chose me to be her person too.
Absolutely beautiful!