Thank you for being a friend
Travel down the road and back again…
I’m sure most of you know that theme song from Golden Girls (a precursor to today’s Sex in the City, I always say!). I love that show because of the characters and their deep friendships. It always reminds me of my own good friends –friends that I know I’ll grow old with. This post is about my friend Karen because I know she and I will still be friends when we’re old, hair gray and patchy. Karen and I met each other way back in junior high when we were F.O.Bs –two chicks “fresh off the boat” so to speak, plucked from Manila and plopped down in the middle of an inner-city public school in Los Angeles. We were in the same homeroom class (hello, Mr. Hession!) and I asked her “Pilipina ka?” or something similar to that. We became friends right after, and that was back in 1988 (‘89?). She was my first best friend here in the U.S.
We became very close partly because of our shared circumstances. We were both the oldest in our respective families, and we both bore the brunt of our parents’ strictness. We couldn’t go out and do normal things like go to the movies without asking our moms a few weeks in advance; boys were a BIG no-no; etc. But we also became friends because we complemented each other in many different ways. She’s funny and loud and blunt; I’m a bit more “serious,” and not quite as gregarious as her. She was a whiz at math and I did her book reports for English class. She drew people to her because of her great, outgoing personality and I’m more of an introvert. I consider her to be my first best friend that I made in the U.S. Along with her, we hung out with other kids who were also recent immigrants. There were five of us at school and we dubbed our little gang “KKMSH” which stood for our initials.
Well the “MSH” part no longer exists (I’ve since lost track of them), but the “KK” is here to stay. Although we lost touch partly during high school (we went to separate schools) and college (which I think is a darn shame since she and I were both into the same educational interests), I’m glad we reconnected after we graduated. She moved to NYC right when I started law school and we shared an apartment together. She moved in to our place sight unseen and was taken aback at our little hovel in Spanish Harlem. She said she could only pay $500 a month (which is unheard of in NYC where studio apartments go for $2k/month!) So I persevered and found our tiny hovel which we would call home for about 3 years.
Those 3 years was a great experience. We didn’t miss a beat and got back to the groove of things. We went through a lot of life changes in those 3 years. We renewed our friendship, grew up, “found ourselves,” and explored the city. We both found our respective others and got married, and we continue to be close even though she chose to move back to Los Angeles.
It’s now 2008 and our friendship is still pretty solid. She’ll always be a part of my past, present, and future and will always be near and dear to my heart. She’s the godmother to rockstar baby and she makes sure to fly to NYC at least once a year, and we keep in touch all the time. We don’t chat on the phone anymore like we used to for hours back in junior high, but when we do talk, we always have an instant connection.
She came to visit just a few weekends ago along with her hubs and as usual, we had a great time catching up. She had the chance to hang out with rockstar baby and like any mom, she thinks he’s gifted! Hehehe… It was a short visit and I always end up feeling sad when they leave! Wah! But there will be other visits! Thanks for coming Karen and Babs! See you in July! Love you!
