The Birth of The Blog

By Aly

We never really met, at least not that we can remember. It all began at Jazzercise class in 1978, or so. Our mothers were trying to lose their baby weight from their fifth, not an easy task. The class took place in the local church. Our first memories of each other are of playing in the back of the exercise class. It’s really all a blur of leotards over bike shorts, sleeves to the elbow and gathers between the bust. We sat and played with our few toys and ran unsupervised through the hallways. The memories go on from there.

In Kindergarten, Corinne wore extra thick yarn in her long pigtails. She seemed to specialize in sweatshirts; I thought they were so cool. We had crushes on all the same boys; we could both name them to this day.

It went on like that until the second grade when they figured out Corinne was… umm, “advanced” and skipped her into the third grade; leaving poor non-genius me behind. We continued to be friends, though there were times we were “secret friends” so her older friends wouldn’t know. I knew what she was up to but I nodded and agreed, whatever.

During elementary school we were all about cat’s cradle, hand slapping games, plastic charm necklaces, and Sea Breeze. We would have sleepovers and stay up as long as we could styling My Little Ponies hair. The next day we would don matching tee shirts and head to the mall, via public transportation, for kiosk makeup applications and photo booth. People would sometimes ask is we were sisters and that really amused us. Whenever I got the chance I would point out that I was older, four days older to be exact.

Our friendship lasted the through jr. high years and into high school. We carpooled. Our moms dropped us of nearly my entire sophomore, her junior, year. Sometimes we could get an older friend to drive; that was cool. We went to dances in the same groups, sometimes. Our groups of friends started to meld together.

And so on to higher education. We went our separate ways but always stayed in contact and hung out in the summers. There was one summer we got on a wedding crashing kick. We’d go to a popular wedding reception venue and go from reception to reception helping ourselves to the cake and eyeing the single men. I always made it a point to wear a skirt that was just a little too short for added amusement.

Then there was the time she got her tonsils out at the same time I got my wisdom teeth out. It was like it had been planned in heaven. We were both heavily medicated and watching movies that were supposed to be sad but we laughed the way you only do with a great friend.

We got married within a few months of each other. I had recently completed my Bachelor’s and Corinne was already working on her PhD. I wore a black sequined sweater to her wedding; so ugly. It’s still in my closet and I cannot bring myself to throw it out.

Children have blessed both of our lives. We each have two. When we can we meet for dinner and a movie. We sit and talk and laugh for hours afterwords until our husbands start to text.

There are many things I am grateful for. There are many people who I love. There are many times that I think about how much I appreciate great friends. I have two friends I have had all my life. Two friends that I know will always be there. Two friends I trust explicitly. And Corinne is one of them.

This blog is the product of our desire to share a little of ourselves and what we think is great with our fellow women.