Two girls+ one last name= an everlasting friendship.

We have been two peas in a pod since I can remember. When we were little we did our hair the same, wore the same clothes, told people we were twins, and lay in bed talking and laughing until we fell asleep. We even made plans to live together when we grew up. Wherever I went, she went. We started getting older but instead of growing apart, we grew closer together. Although she is three years younger than me and lives two hours away, she is one of my best friends.

My cousin Olivia has been a close friend of mine my entire life. When we were young, our lives were full of carefree days. We went over to our Grandma’s and played all day. One of our favorite places at her house was down by the creek. We would stroll along the bank and see little minnows swimming frantically through the water. There were trees that hung over the clear water and leaves that would float downstream. We would take a big leap and land on a rock in the middle of the water. Once we jumped again, we would be on the grass on the opposite side of Grandma’s property. We would go up the tiny hill, grab a handful of rocks off the neighbor’s gravel driveway, and hang out on the little bridge that hung over the water. We threw the rocks into the water, watching them make tiny ripples. We would sit and talk about our problems, our biggest one being trying to decide what to do next.

As we started growing older things changed. We no longer dressed the same, told people we were twins, or even talked about living together, but we grew closer on an emotional level. When we started becoming more mature, we ran into the problems in our lives; problems more complex than trying to decide what game to play on our days together. We have faced hard times in our lives together. Olivia’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when we were both really little. As we grew up, I realized how serious her illness was. It was a touchy subject but I was one of the people Olivia would talk to about the situation. Her mom fought the cancer for seven long years and then ended up passing away when Olivia was in the fifth grade and I was in the seventh grade. I was with her at the funeral, hugging her and assuring her that everything would be okay. The next couple of months were hard but my friendship with Olivia grew stronger. We would reminisce on the good memories we had shared with her mom and when times got rough, we would eat a bowl of Kim Chis, our favorite Asian noodles that her mom always made us.

As time went by, her dad started dating a new woman. Olivia was disturbed by this because she felt like he shouldn’t be ready to take that step in his life just yet. I remember her telling me that her dad was dating Miss Karen, a Greek woman with twins. Olivia told me how Miss Karen had an annoying laugh but she was very sweet. When Olivia came in town for our Christmas celebration, Miss Karen and her twins Nicholas and Alexandra were with Olivia and her family. They all seemed like great people but that night Olivia and I stayed up talking about them and how she felt about them being in her life. Of course with us being two teenage girls, a few tears were shed but I tried to convince Olivia that they were sent into her life for a reason. Olivia left the next afternoon and I didn’t hear much more about Miss Karen and the kids until the engagement took place.

Once Olivia’s dad and Miss Karen got engaged, the wedding was quickly planned. Olivia was very upset so I went up to her house the day before and we had a girls night to get ready for the wedding the next day. We went to the movies, to the mall, and bought about five pounds of candy to eat as we talked about what challenges the next day would bring. We discussed how her life would be different but how it could be a positive change. The next morning we went to the salon to get our hair done and got ready for the wedding together. The ceremony was a difficult to sit through and once it was over we broke down into tears. We kept reassuring ourselves that this was a change for the better, and it was. Olivia has been living happily with her dad, step mom, brother, and step brother and sister. She has faced difficulties but her strong attitude, as well as my help, has brought her through the tough change.

Olivia and I both went to our Grandma’s house about a week ago. We walked down to the creek, our favorite childhood place we shared. We chatted about school as we made our journey down the big, grassy hill. Once we got to the creek we noticed that a lot of the water had dried up and how overtime, it began to change. There were no longer a ton of minnows swimming around and some of the trees looked like they had been burned by a fire. We still made our jump across the creek. However, this time we didn’t have to jump nearly as far since our legs were longer and the creek was dried up in places. We walked up the tiny hill and made our way onto the neighbor’s gravel driveway to the bridge. Once we got to the bridge we sat at the edge of the concrete and dangled our feet over the ledge. We sat there and talked as two hours passed, picking up where we left off. We threw rocks and watched them as they made ripples in the calm, soothing water. We shared our thoughts about Olivia’s mom and how much we missed her but also about how blessed we were to have her in our lives. Olivia filled me in on what it was like to live with her new step mom and step siblings and we talked about how much we miss the way life used to be. As I sat next to Olivia it dawned on me that although your surroundings age and sometimes change for the worse, a friendship between two cousins stays the same forever. There is nothing in this world that I would trade our friendship for. Nothing can break our everlasting bond.