I was never the teenager that had a lot of friends. When I was in high school, my "group" consisted of two people who were completely different than I was and that is it. Actually, I was the girl who got made fun of. Oh yeah, bullied beyond belief. That got so bad that I wouldn't want to go to school. I wanted to stay home in bed all day and sulk about how terrible I was. Of course, that was not an option and I had to find comfort somewhere, so I did turn to the internet.
The year was 2001 and I had found a message board for the group 'N Sync, who I was a huge fan of, so I decided to join and see what it was all about. To make a very long story short, I had met someone who introduced me to a friend of hers... Her friend's name was Lauren. We started talking and hit it off right away. About a week later we had spoken on the phone and every day and every night we would talk to each other VIA phone or internet. (or even both at the same time!) Lauren and I quickly became best friends, the kind of friend that I had never had before this. She was someone that I could vent to, I could go to for guy advice, someone who was just like me in some ways but completely different too. Finally, I had someone I could lean on and confide in.
October of 2001 brought Lauren and myself wanting to get together. I had been figure skating at that time and decided to ask Lauren to meet me at the skating rink. The problem was, she had to get her mother to drive her. (Since we were 14 and 15, respectively...) I had not lied to my mom about the situation, I just withheld the information from her that Lauren was coming. (Of course, that's not how she recounts it, but it's the truth!) -- But I digress -- Finally, after my skating session, Lauren got to the rink with her mother and we spent a very long time talking to each other and having just as much fun in person as we did online and on the phone. Our mothers also had a great conversation and got to know each other better.
After that Lauren and I saw each other twice a year. She lived two hours from us, so it was impossible for us to get together more often, but we wanted to. Once I went to college, since I went to college in Philadelphia, Lauren and I became even closer. At that point, I lived only 15-20 minutes from her house, so I would go there often. Honestly, I think I was at her house more than I was in my dorm room. Her mother quickly became more like a mother to me than I realized in the years prior.
I owe a hell of a lot to Lauren. She is someone who can drive me crazy but keep me sane at the same time. She is someone who I look up to, even though she's younger than me. She's someone who I can call with the stupidest problem, and she will make me laugh. She is someone that even though we don't talk too much anymore, once we do call each other, it's like we never stopped talking. She is someone that taught me the real meaning of friendship, and was it means to have someone that knows you better than you know yourself. And she definitely does. She is more like my sister than my own sister is and we will always be best friends.
Thank you Laur, for 11 years of EVERYTHING!!
(Inspired by Mama Kat's prompt - That one time you met your online friend in real life (was it everything you thought it would be?)
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