I’ve known Mary since she was born—literally. I met her the day she left the hospital. See, our moms have always been best friends. And since moms take their babies everywhere, whenever ours would hang out, we would too.
Mary and I live on the same block, making it super convenient to hang out. She always wants to hang out at my house because she says I have the best snacks -- healthy food. However, I always want to hang out at Mary’s house because she has better snacks -- junk food.
Mary and I have always bonded over food. When we were little we would play Restaurant.” Now, if you are not familiar with the game Restaurant, basically one person pretends to be a customer at the other person’s "restaurant." I remember the day my mom bought us a toy kitchen. It came with wooden stools, plates, silverware, cups, and a bunch of fake food. Mary was so excited. We took Restaurant to a whole new level.
Mary has always been the clever, creative one. She has never taken a singing lesson yet has a beautiful voice. She’s never had a piano teacher, but can listen to a song and play it back almost instantly. She draws things that blow my mind and writes text that gives me chills. What’s so amazing, though, is that she could not be any more humble about it.
Mary is also much more worry-free than I. Every September, our street has a block party. Mary and I always did everything together. From decorating our bikes, to the penny dive, we were inseparable. I mentioned earlier that Mary’s parents allowed junk food. Well, Mary’s parents also allowed her to do more, and sometimes reckless, things than mine. One year, Mary convinced me to put on her rollerblades and let her tow me with her bike. My legs were shaking as I picked up the rope. At first, it actually went pretty well. However, moments later I was on the ground crying, cradling my bleeding leg. Mary ran and helped me up -- and instead of getting mad at her, I laughed. I laughed because I did a stupid thing and it was funny.
Over the years, Mary has helped me laugh it off. Through worries, failure, negativity, she’s taught me to just slow down and relax.
During middle school, Mary and I started to drift apart. She went to public school and I went to private school. The summers, however, were a different story.
Mary and I both did Circus and Performing Arts and every year we went to circus camp together. Every day for 8 weeks we would walk to and from camp. During the years of circus camp, Mary had a short bowl-cut. Our friends would always joke that it made Mary and I look like siblings. One day, on our walk home, Mary thought it would be funny to convince them that we actually were related. So, the next day, we told everyone that we were siblings. To our surprise, it worked, and for one whole summer, Mary and I were brother and sister.
Although Mary and I are the same age, she is one year behind me in school. This is only because her birthday is in September. By the time Mary entered high school, I was a sophomore. The next three years brought us even closer together.
Naturally, Mary ended up getting her license before me --she has always been extremely independent. Every morning at 8:00 a.m. she would pick me up for school. There was always some hip new-retro song playing as I got in. We would then go up to the locker that we shared and go about our school day. For 3 years we followed this routine. For 3 years I got to spend every day with my best friend. And for all 19 years of my life, 3 years never went by so fast.
Writing this now, I like to think Mary knows everything about me. But if there was to be one thing she didn’t know, it would be that without her, I don’t know who I would be.
Thank you, Mary. You have given me the courage to be me.
