We have all been told that your parent(s) should not be your best friend(s). Yes, parents are the people who have raised you since birth, the ones who changed your soaked diaper at 3 AM on a work day, the ones who taught you how to use a spoon correctly. Parents are the cool people in your life who guide you through the many obstacles you may encounter in the future.
My entire life I have heard a copious amount of adult conversations, (a perk of being an only child) about how there is a fine line between being your kid’s friend and being their parent. Many parents have claimed that if they became one of their kid’s friends and stopped acting like a strict, my-way-or-the-highway type of parent, their kid would stop respecting them and treating them like parents.
Honestly, I think that is bullshit.
My mother and I have one of the strongest bonds I know of, so yes, I DO consider her my best friend. We laugh, cry, and argue with one another. We shop till we drop. We have glasses of celebratory champagne when we feel like it, even if there is nothing to celebrate.
My mom has loved me even before she met me on July 7, 1998 at 2:25 pm. From what I have been told for the past 18 years, she knew we would be best friends. She knew I would be a feisty, moody, and caring young woman with goals almost nearly impossible to reach. (I think she assumed I would have all of these characteristics because my sign is a Cancer…) She knew that having a daughter was going to be the most challenging but rewarding part of being a mother. She knew I would have mood swings; she knew I would go through the angsty teen phase; she knew I would fall in love- deep, deep love; she knew I would have my heart broken, if not two or three times; but most importantly, she knew that she would be right by my side through all of what life threw at me. She loves me like a daughter, and she loves me like a best friend.
My mother is my best friend for all of those reasons and more.
So for all you people out there whose parent is your best friend, GO YOU!!
Go tell them that they are your best friend, homie, OG, the jelly to your peanut butter sandwich, the coffee to your doughnut, the milk to your Oreo. (Okay, you get the point.)
Thanks mom for everything you do for me and the family, and for being the kick-ass mom, wife, sister, daughter, bovine manager, and of course, a best friend.