Be Fri

Every girl dreams about having a best friend whom she can share everything with and I found that best friend, Monica, in the 6th grade. We met on the "Cheerwine" softball team where one summer we were undefeated and another we lost every game. I don't know what Monica saw in me, but in her I saw a girl with spunk, confidence, and so much charisma, I just couldn't stay away. Wow, to consider the things we've been through. Band, chorus, Youth Group, Camp Tekoa. Monica introduced me to the Monkees and Metallica, BlackMountain Music Fest, and MerleFest. In the 8th grade, she convinced me to take out my hair barrettes and start parting my hair on the side rather than in the middle for a "sexy" look and to loosen up a bit by cutting a few bangs. We did everything together and people got used to us being a pair. She carried a laughing box (remember those?) in her backpack around high school and we just laughed and laughed as we walked the halls with this man's voice cracking up out of the blue. We had code names and nicknames for everything and everybody, a private language that only the two of us understood. Spending the night at her house was way more fun than at my house, because we got to sleep in her family's camper, drink hot chocolate and Mountain Dew (sometimes at the same time), and sneak peaks of her brother's dreamy best friend, "Chris Jones, 11th Grade" (as opposed to "Chris Jones, 9th Grade," who wasn't cute at all). I've never laughed harder or more often than with Monica, and we still think anything to do with chickens is hilarious. We used to talk about getting those "Best Friend" necklaces where one person wears "be fri" and the other person wears "st end."

People were surprised that we went away to different colleges, wondering how we would ever get along separated. But we visited each other, me to UNC-G where she went, and her to Carolina. Monica was always one step ahead on everything "in," and I've struggled, even now, to keep up. She told me in 1990 to go check out a new band called "Nirvana" at the Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill, but I didn't and forever since have wanted to kick myself. We did catch the Dead Milkmen that year, though, and years later the Grateful Dead, the Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, James Taylor, Jimmy Buffet and more. Monica rose to the top of her career in no time, and now can be heard all across the NC airwaves as a wildly popular DeeJay who gets to meet and interview the likes of Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne. I'm so proud of her and her accomplishments, and I just beam when I hear her voice on the radio, and think, "Dat's right. I knew her when..."

Happy Birthday Week, be fri, you crazy chicken!