'Friends'

Best Friends

Quotes from the Friends' script are from the Crazy For Friends internet site.

Best friends are the people in life that make you laugh a little louder,

smile a little brighter, and live a little better. - Anonymous

The calendar flipped to July. Although the sun had exerted its last burst of energy before disappearing into evening, the air remained hot and dry. 

I didn't care. It was that time of year. I was glued to my seat. My fav sitcom was on tonight.

Friends.

Tell me you watched the same show. And that you remember Rachel and Monica and Phoebe and Joey and Chandler, and of course Ross - best friends who lived in the same Manhattan apartment complex where they created and dreamed and gazed at the clouds and stuck their noses into one another's business. 

Me? I never missed an episode. There was nothing like it. 

I can envision them sitting together in a self-conscious huddle in a coffeehouse. Phoebe had just bounded gracefully down the hallway. She was scrunching her nose in that characteristic way of hers as she told Monica and Rachel, We can be guys! Come on, let us be guys! 

Chandler, his voice robotic and seemingly annoyed, countered, You don't want to be guys, you'd be all hairy and you wouldn't live as long. 

Or I can see Rachel in the laundry room, brushing a wayward hair falling into her eyes as she confessed to Ross in a quiet, defeated voice. You caught me. I'm a laundry virgin. She goofily smiled with embarrassment as Ross assured her, Then I'll use the gentle cycle.

You may remember that one in which Monica received a call for Rachel from the Visa card people. Through tightly-clenched teeth, Rachel whispered, her lips trembling. Oh, God, ask them what they want. 

When Monica told her that there was some unusual activity on her account, Rachel stomped her feet, put both hands on her hips with all of her dramatic flair, and quickly retorted, But I haven't used my card in weeks! Monica's eyes narrowed into slits as she laughed and disclosed, That is the unusual activity. 

What more can I say? You cheered them on. You listened to their inane conversation swirling like wild dandelion seeds in the wind. It was like listening to gossip from sixth graders. A steady stream of super important life-changing information. Like who liked whom, and what so and so said, and who was going with whom. 

Good thing I didn't miss a word. For ten seasons, all I wanted was to float aimlessly along in that friendly and bubbly silliness. 

And live life with abandon.

Or even just sit on a porch somewhere and sink into a gentle and repairing state of nothingness.