Some stories in our lives never get old. The story "The First Day Amanda Met Sara" is a classic in my life. I hear it everytime I see her mother. I hear and tell it every other time I am with Amanda. It just never gets old. It is now a cliche for our friendship.
Think way back to 1992...it is the first day of ninth grade junior high. I am a long time resident of the school with a tight circle of friends. I know the ins and outs of the junior high social scene. I am not a popular girl, but I have some good friends. I do not abide by any social order other than the one set by my quirky group of girlfriends...they are not popular either, we are viewed as "strange, bizarro" at best. We like choir, band, and dance. We don't like cliques, hockey boyfriends, or being mean.
Back to Amanda...so, this new girl sits down next to me in what is going to be the dreaded Mr. Berg English course. She looks like any new girl. Many new girls entered our circle of friends because one of us always took it upon ourselves to "take them under our wing". Most of my friends had a kinder way of doing this than I did. It wasn't that I was mean, I just wasn't as smooth of gentle as they were.
So, Amanda sits down. I probably introduce myself. I tell her to "lose the trapper keeper." I thought this was great advice. No one else walked around with a trapper keeper at Schroder Junior High School. I thought I was doing this girl a favor. Now I realize that I probably only increased her fears and anxieties about unwritten rules.
No matter how rough around the edges I was, we became great friends. We share many of the same life experiences but with our own personal twist. No matter how much time passes or events occur in our lives...highs and lows, we are connected through these stories and life experiences.
"Perhaps the most delightful friendships are those in which there is much agreement, much disputation, and yet more personal liking."
-George Eliot
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