Dreaming of a White Birthday

AV joins our ranks today, as a 23-year-old adult. As her friend and roommate, and most importantly, being 27 days her senior, I feel it my duty to impart my knowledge and wisdom to her.

Who am I kidding? AV is way more of an adult than KR and I put TOGETHER.

I first met AV prior to our freshman year of college at Fish Camp. I was introduced to she and her BFF4L- JS (now JP) one “theme night” by my friend and roommate ES (now EL). Bear with me, people. I know I lost most of you at BFF4L. Anyway- we were reunited on move-in day on the steps of Mosher, our dorm and home for our first year of college. And the rest is basically history. Not even the fact that she lived in the basement, and I lived on the fourth floor of our building would keep us from becoming friends. It was a LOT of stairs- I had great calves that year…

AV and I lived in the same apartments sophomore year, one building away from each other. I distinctly remember calling her, needing a breather after a long day and finding her outside 10 minutes later, sneakers on and ready to walk lap after lap around the complex parking lot while I vented.

I recall watching the “Felicity” DVDs AV “borrowed” from her sister during the dead days leading up to our midterms junior year. We had heated ‘Ben or Noel’ debates- talking about how many misconceptions of college life we had derived from that show. I don’t particularly recall how we did on those exams, though.

When we came to New York to visit before last Christmas, AV, JP and I went roaming one morning while the other girls went to see ‘The View’. After seeing the Brooklyn Bridge and going to the top of the Empire State Building, we found ourselves in my least favorite part of Manhattan: Canal Street. Wanting to leave as quickly as possible, JP and I followed AV and a tiny foreign woman as she led us down a street off next to a basketball court. JP and I literally watched AV climb into a VAN with STRANGERS, violating every rule elementary school safety patrol ever taught us. She emerged victorious, carrying knock-off purses and wallets and ready for anything else New York had to offer.

I have fond memories of our last semester of college spent suffering through Math 141, studying at Starbucks everyday after class until I would entice her to either start chatting and abandon her calculator or go next door to Potbelly to get an Italian on wheat.
I remember knowing the day JP was getting engaged, and wondering what took her so long to call with the good news, only to find out that she had not been able to get in touch with AV to tell her first, and she refused to call anyone else until she got to talk to her. Unbeknownst to JP, AV had flown to Phoenix to surprise her for the weekend. I also remember flying home to Texas for JP’s wedding, listing off everything that would contribute to AV’s emotional weekend: seeing her new baby nephew HV for the first time, seeing her grandmother in the hospital and watching her best friend get married.

“Thanks a lot, I hadn’t thought about it,” she said.
“Don’t worry, I’ve been anticipating it for you,” I replied.

I’ve admired AV since I met her, but never more than moving to New York with her. I’ve grown accustomed to her acute dislike of foods that mix salty with sweet, her classic Jennifer-Aniston-esque style that fits her quite nicely into the Manhattan landscape, and she has also been so kind as to adopt me under her wing for my lack of music foresight and knowledge. She would be an official member of the Lyrics Police if they would just hurry up and mail her a badge already.

For all of these reasons and many more intangible ones that go almost unnoticed in our day-to-day lives, AV is a dear friend. Her determination to move to New York and succeed here has been as much a part of her since the day I met her as it remains today. She takes nothing for granted and people fortunate to know her well are blessed by her reassuring presence and warmth. The beauty of our friendship is that it has never been forced or uncomfortable, it just happened naturally.

I know that a large part of our success here has been our ability to laugh about everything, and I never let myself miss Texas that much because I have you and KR here with me. Being in the presence of both of you daily gives me a piece of home I cherish daily. Happy 23rd, AV!

"So scared of getting older
I'm only good at being young
So I play the numbers game to find away to say that life has just begun"
- John Mayer "Stop This Train"

"Milk was a bad choice..."
- Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy, "Anchorman"

"I felt it shelter to speak to you."
- Emily Dickinson