Friendship Reminiscence

Friendships definitely change as one ventures through the various milestones of life. My senior year of high school, I had 2 best friends: Vic and Anar. We varied in ethnicity, faith, hobbies and interests, but we had a blessed trust of camaraderie and love for one another. I valued the amazing things I learned from these awesome women about their cultures and passions in life. Vic was the gifted half-Venezuelan artist with a flair for gourmet cooking and geology. Anar was the jovial Indian girl with a zeal for rock bands, living life to its fullest, and earnestly pursuing medical school. All I remember of myself at age 17 was that I was at a crossroads with my faith, and I adamantly pursued the high school glories of senior Key Club leadership as well as admittance into my top colleges of choice. What I enjoyed the most was hanging out with Vic and Anar for Slurpee runs, concerts by our fave local bands at the U of North Texas (namely, Mingo Fishtrap), and trips for coffee and cake indulgences at Cappuccino Café. We aligned our schedules for the same Classic Learning Core English class taught by the famous Mr. Tim Hagood. When he requested that we work in pairs on a project, we negotiated our group of three, which he then dubbed “triple threat”.

That was one taxing time on our friendship—the 3-headed monster wanted to veer every which way on our position paper on the film Immortal Beloved. Yet, we survived, learned a lot about each other and Beethoven, and vowed to never again volunteer to write a paper as a group of 3. Other fond memories include weekend sleepovers at Vic’s casa. She lived 2 blocks from our dorm in Denton, while my home was in Dallas and Anar’s, Houston. We’d fight over who got to sit in the hammock in Vic’s dining room. We’d laugh and cry over movies. We’d cook…rather, Vic taught us to cook some of her signature dishes.

The coolest escapade we ever accomplished was we crashed our own senior prom. We were going to boycott prom and everything that it stood for. However, our problem was that one of our dear friends was the prom committee chair and he really wanted us to attend. But, we were women of conviction and purpose, so we HAD to stand our ground. Anar’s birthday was also the same day as prom, so the 3 of us were just gonna go out to eat at a fun restaurant. As the day drew nearer, our reasons for boycotting prom became blurred and vague, but it was too late to purchase tickets—we still had to remain stalwart in our stance. But, Vic hatched a deliciously perfect idea. Anar really wanted to go to prom (by this point, I think we all did). So, we would go out to a restaurant for her birthday and sneak our prom attire in the trunk, then make a final stop at the prom hotel for her surprise gift. So, while we were finishing our sup at the Hard Rock Café in Dallas, Anar was happy for the birthday treat, but remorseful that she’d miss her senior prom. So, then we told her our plans for the night, and she was thrilled. We had prepared everything, curling irons, cosmetics, shoes, and gowns. We raced off to the hotel, changed in the ladies room…then made our grand entrance just after 11pm. The prom committee chair was just glad we made it to the event as were the rest of our senior pals. We got to dance to a few tunes and snap some pictures for our scrapbooks and pull of the craziest prom stunt that had yet occurred at TAMS. Vic and Anar were the first women friends I had who accepted me with my flaws, straightened me out with tough love when my ego needed it, and never failed me by stabbing me in the back. I was blessed by these incredible women and I will always cherish the gift of their friendship.

I was really sad to leave these gals at graduation. Vic was headed off to UC Berkeley to pursue her engineering dreams. Anar was going close to home to quickly polish off her pre-med requirements at Univ of Houston. I chose to attend the Univ of Texas at Austin for the remainder of my undergrad experience. I had a huge hole in my heart because my dearest friends were no longer near, and I had to start from scratch building friendships and trusts with others. Little did I know that my entire life was about to turn up-side-down during my first year at UT.

We didn’t keep in touch very often after we parted ways and cities. But, I often reflected on the sweet simple fun times we shared in school. I saw those dear women again 2 years later when they traveled down to Austin to visit several of their TAMS alumnae. For my birthday, they presented me with a CD that was finally recorded by Mingo Fishtrap (it only took ‘em 5 years!), and for a couple of days, we relived the good times driving around in Vic’s old Ford Explorer. I haven’t heard from Vic since then. Anar has since graduated from medical school and is finishing up her residence in emergency medicine at UC Irvine. She’s living her dream and staying real by surfing and singing in a rock band—SoCal is truly the perfect place for a gal like Anar. Although I may not hear from these women often, I still think of them and pray for them when they come to mind.