Divine Chaos

A story of 2 friends, written out of sheer boredom… and because it’s her 18th Birthday…

I have a best friend. She’s blonde. She’s girly. I hate girly girls, but she’s my Alison. I used to take walks with my Mom, and she with hers, and we would run into each other on the way. Our mothers would stop to talk, and we would hide behind their legs, peering to see the peculiar person on the other side. I was invited to her seventh birthday party, and we made sand art… I still have mine in my room…
    Soon we began talking, a difficult thing to do when you’re young and unsure. I was a tomboy, playing in mud, and wrestling with my older cousin, while she was prancing around in a sundress, playing with dolls, and swinging on swings. We used to sit on either side of the fence, talking and scheming. How can we get to each other’s houses, without actually walking around the corner? Tin can phones, and a honeysuckle bush that grew on either side of the fence… we had our own little world.
    When winters came, we would build igloos on the side of her hill, sled, and help each other shovel so we could go out exploring together sooner. Then her mother would call us in, “It’s too cold!”, and in we would go for hot chocolate and cookies.
    As we grew older, it was easier to see our differences, but we never missed a beat of our friendship. We could not talk for months, but the moment we did, we were right back where we started. Different schools, different lives. Alison goes to a private school on the Main Line, while I went to Catholic school until 6th grade, then became an inner city public school kid. Two different worlds, yet we always come back to the one we know together.
    Alison’s half-Jewish, and it’s not uncommon for me to celebrate a night of Hanukah, so long as she comes up after to help decorate our Christmas tree. She visits me in work when she’s out in the neighborhood, and winds up staying for hours, just because we’re catching up on life. Despite her lack of Irish blood, she’s here for my family St. Patrick’s Day party, and never fails to miss any of our ridiculous get togethers. Alison understands what it is to have horse racing parties, and is the only person I know who doesn’t think it’s odd (Maybe because just as I have, she’s grown up with them…).
    Even now, our interactions are short, our together time thin, but through this girl, I have found my second mother. I have found someone for fashion advice, and someone to help me with my unmanageable hair.  I have found someone to share my family with, someone who is always there for me. I have found true friendship. Whenever anything’s up, we’re always just around the corner. I don’t think there’s been a second of fighting, but years of support and understanding. We’ve been though everything together… changing schools, 9/11, parents separating, parents fighting, first loves,.
    Now, yet another obstacle…College. My forever around the corner sister is going to Arizona, which is a little bit farther then a yell over the fence.