Celebrating your friends!

A Friendship Anniversary? A novel, but long overdue concept!
By: Regina F. Brown

Recently one of my best friends sent me an email that really caused me to stop and reflect on myself as a woman and a friend. She sent me an email saying that we were coming up on our 20th year anniversary as friends and that we should really do it up and celebrate in NYC or other grand style.

Immediately, I thought it was a great idea. My friend Estashia Perkins-Bryant and I first became friends in High School on the track team. We ran the freshman relay together and although we were well-coached on passing the baton…I ran out of steam running into the hand-off zone and rather than risk certain disqualification for a missed hand-off I tried a lob which sorely missed its intended target. Nevertheless, a great friendship was born and even though I am dating us both something more valuable is revealed in our friendship’s close examination.

Like most great friends we have been there for each other through the good times and the bad. Actually, our friendship has outlasted many marriages. And if we are honest many of our female friendships have been our saving grace when the men in our lives have failed to be the men we thought we could count on them to be. When my husband preferred not to be in the delivery room when I had my daughter, it was my friend who came through for me and my new baby girl. I know my pulling double-duty as Maid of Honor and Honeymoon getaway driver meant a lot to her for her to even have dreamt up such a novel concept as to celebrate our best friends with the same verve and joie de vivre that we celebrate our male partners’ anniversaries and our children’s birthdays.

So, why when my friend suggested we celebrate 20 years of friendship was this the first time I’d heard of such a thing?

The quote from Gandhi that ‘We must be the change we seek in the world’ reverberates with me now. As women we want to be valued as wives, friends, mothers, workers, etc., just as men look to be valued in their respective roles. But if we are not even valuing ourselves and our best friends, how do we even have a chance being valued by men or bosses, or anyone else that we encounter in our quest to thrive and to help those we love to thrive?

My friend Estashia (Stacy) and I will admit to being foodies and since we could drive have always taken time out to chat and fellowship over a good meal. Probably, the Red Lobster franchise owes us a debt of gratitude for the small fortune we’ve spent there throughout the course of our friendship.

But even though we have taken out time to do the little things we could to show each other we appreciate our friendship, I think it is a fabulous idea to do something big to celebrate a milestone in our friendship as well. I am hoping that the Broadway smash FELA (a shameless plug for ticket hook-up) is still running and that we might be able to see it, but whatever we do we are going to do it up BIG. Because hey, my sister, you’ve been a great friend and I hope we have many more friendship milestones to reach! I also hope your great idea inspires other friends to celebrate each other in major ways too!



This piece was first published at http://beigerage.blogspot.com. Regina Faye Brown is the author of ‘Dear Langston, It Explodes!’ available on amazon.com and authorhouse.com. She is also a wife and a mother of two, Brighton and Gianna, and a Pre-K teacher with Head Start. Estashia Perkins-Bryant is the co-owner of Trend City Cutz in North Brunswick, NJ and StacyCakes Confectioners in Somerset, NJ. She is also a wife and the mother of two children, Emoni and Elias.