BFF's Make The World Go Round

It was 1991, I was in elementary school. My family had just moved to a new country. We didn't know what to expect. It was a life changing moment filled with adaptation and lessons that were sure to follow.

I was saddened when I first learned of the move, up until the very day we transitioned to our new life. I cried for several weeks because of the ere thought of me leaving my friends and never seeing them again. It hurt me to the core. They gave me a goodbye party so I'd feel better and not as sad as I was. They wanted me to be at ease.

My mom told me I'd make new friends and that it was a part of life. And this won't be the last time that I'd separate from someone that I held close to my heart. She assured me that life would happen and people often lose touch with friends in school every time they graduated and went off to schools in other states or cities.

We were definitely inseparable. It was three of us day in and day out as we ventured through our childhood years. We walked to school together, studied for tests in each others homes, joined the dance team as well as the cadets. After dance practice one day my friend Anaya said we should call ourselves the ABC crew which were the first initials of our names (Anaya, Brandi and me, Callie).

So one day in the Summer of 1997, three years before we graduated from High School we made a pack that if we ever ended up in another city or moved with our families that we would make it our priority to go to the same college no matter what life brought to our path.

Fast forward to the year 2000. I had graduated from High School and my friends did too. My mom struggled to take care of my four siblings and I. She ended up losing her job and I panicked that I may not be able to attend . My friends Brandi and Anaya came over the night before my 18th birthday party to help set up the decorations.

They found me laying down in my room looking a hot mess. My eyes were bloodshot red, I was depressed and not in the mood to talk to anyone. Brandi said she wasn't leaving until she cheered me up enough until I came out of my room and joined the others who came to celebrate me.

My spirits were lifted instantaneously. This was a day that my life changed. I had friends that I could never thank enough. They were truly like sisters to me. There was nothing in this world that I wouldn't do for them and they wouldn't do for me. I loved them like they were blood family. We saw ourselves as sister.

Following College graduation, we moved in a 4 bedroom house together and adopted a Maltipoo. He was so adorable and cuddly like a caramel colored, fluffy little handheld teddy bear. I named him lucky because when I looked back at the years of friendship with my ABC crew that's exactly how I felt. I was lucky that I got to go through life with the my BFF's.

 After about 10 minutes of sulking I couldn't believe what had just happened. My amazing BFF's did it. Anaya said she would talk to her mom who owned a Beauty Salon about doing my hair for my party because we couldn't afford to go to the hair salon to get a full wash, cut, color, blow dry and style for $60.

But it didn't stop there. My friends were determined to turn my mood around. Brandi excused herself and stepped out of the room for 10 minutes. Anaya looked at me with a confused look, I shrugged my shoulders because I didn't not know what was going on.

When she came back in I had no idea what I was about the information that I was privy to upon her return.

She had called her mom and asked her if she could co-sign for my student loans so that we could all start the upcoming Fall Semester together. I balled my eyes out and almost had a mild anxiety attack. I sat in disbelief for about twenty minutes asking myself, " is this really happening".

Never in a million years did i think that I would have something so profound done for me by people who I had met years before or that they would become permanent sisters for life.

As I write this story and I reminisce and look back on what happened in my journey to adulthood with my best friends I always tear up because i feel blessed that I had the experienced that we shared.

I felt like I had to repay them for being super awesome to me in my difficult situation. Two years after we were living in our house I surprised both Anaya and Brandi with a 4 city cruise that started in Miami, Florida. They were extremely grateful. They thought it was a prank.

They didn't believe me until I showed them the reservations. Without their selflessness I may not had been able to attend college. So I just wanted to repay them and show them how much they meant to me and offer a token of my appreciation for them.

It was the first time that any of us had went on a cruise and out of the country as well. We did everything you could possibly think of. Brandi even had a hangover on the first night. The next day was spent nursing her back to health. Lol. It was the first of many vacations to come. Anaya was planning our next vacay while we were in Mexico at our second destination. It was undeniably the best trip our our life and we got to do it together and make so many lasting memories.

I say thank you to those who have been kind and genuine to others like ourselves. We need a little more love in this world and everything will work out fine.