"My Girls". Everyone always asks me why I refer to my friends as "my girls". I'm not laying claim, by any means. It was just easier than saying I'm going to hang out with Katie, Katie, Kiers, and Erin tonight. I did everything with those girls. We knew everything about each other, went everywhere, did everything. I am forever changed by who they are, and what they meant to me.
Kiers and I weren't always close. haha in fact we hated each other for a good portion of our adolescence. Kiers moved in two houses down from me in the 5th grade. But she was a public school girl, I was a private school girl. We just didn't mesh =) For two years we kept our distance from each other. Secretly vying for Nick Erickson's attention, and holding on to our pride over who would be the first person to talk to whom.
Then Erika moved in, in 7th grade. Right in between both of us. The perfect situation one would think for three girls at that age to be in. We could have been the best of friends. Didn't quite turn out that way. Erika was a public school girl too, and a favorite of all the boys none the less, so Nick Erickson took a liking to her right away. So right away I hated her! Kiers and Erika developed a friendship and I was left to sit in jealousy, wishing I could be their friend too.
Kiers and Erika had a falling out, as most people do when they're friends with her (Erika), and as a result, Erika and I became friends. Inseperable is more like it. She fed me lies about Kiersten, I believed them. I actually remember countless nights where Erika and I would be walking around Bear Meadows and we'd pass by Kiersten in the road. Kiers would have some smart-ass coment like "hi bitches" and Erika and I would just laugh. I wish I knew then that I was passing by one truly amazing person.
Freshman year came and who else would be in my study hall than Kiersten. The first word out of her mouth to me was of course "hi bitch". I think I laughed and from there a friendship blossomed. At first it consisted of nightly walks around bear meadows smoking our cigarettes because we were soooo cool, or hiding under her porch smoking pot with our handmade "pipe"...consisting of a toilet paper roll. How sad.
As the years progressed, so did our friendship. She became the person I went to most for advice and for a cheering up. She was willing to do absolutely anything with me! Excursions to name a few....... nightly trips into milwaukee to see yet another concert on a school night, much to our parents disregard, skipping class and playing frisbee in the senior parking lot, cruising around in the explorer dancing our butts off to Dreams or Shoop, driving to Mad Planet and having her puke out the side of my car down I-94 then passing out under the pool table leaving me to fend off the vampires by myself, and weekend trips to the dance clubs that she came to even though she HATED them!!!!
Everyone always says that you meet your life friends in college. I met mine in High School. Kiersten was more than just a friend to me. She meant everything to me. All my girls did. We were all unique. None of us offering the same thing to the table. Kiersten offered her musical talent, her love of her own farts, sometimes not-so appropriate sayings, an ear to listen, and advice to make you smile.
Saying goodbye for college was hard, very hard. Harder than saying bye to my own family. I no longer had that comfort and security. But we made it work. A year later I moved in with her in Oshkosh. It tested our friendship. Now we were forced to budget time between girlfriends and boyfriends and each other. It tore at us. We'd fight, and make up, fight again. It got to the point where we really stopped talking all together. I moved away, and our friendship dwindled from there. I was so sad that I let it fade away into basically nothing.
But we made ammends. We grew up and I realized that I can't have her around all the time like she used to be, but if I absolutley need her, she'll be there. I wish her all the luck in the future. She'll never leave my thoughts or my heart.