Monday, January 11, 2010

Three's Company

I'm not sure if the three friends rule happens to boys, but it's certainly a thing with little girls.  When I was in second and third grade I had two best friends, Maryann and Kelly.  Only Kelly and I would fight over Maryann.  I mean Kelly and I had our own friendship too, and our mom's were good friends. For some reason, though, Maryann was the one we wanted to sit next to, or be partnered up with for school projects.  God forbid one of us had a sleepover with Maryann and the other one wasn't invited!  The sickness I felt in the pit of my stomach when I saw Maryann's overnight bag on the bus on a Friday, was not unlike that of finding out you'd been cheated on.   So, I had two good friends, but one I liked a little better.  The funniest part about this story, is that Kelly and I have stayed friends our entire lives, and seh remains one of my best friends even two thousand miles away.  She was in my wedding and she's Lana's Godmother.  And Maryann?  We have NO idea where she is.  The way Kelly and I figure it, she either became a nun or a prostitute.  I'm not sure why we thought she went one extreme or the other, but that's what we decided at one point.

ANYWAY!  The reason for that little background info on me was  to talk about Sonya and her own little threesome friendship.  She, Lourdes from down the street, and Gwen seem to be best friends.  They are in the same kindergarten class and those are the two she talks about all the time.  I guess there's the same kind of trouble with them that there always was with me, Kelly and Maryann.  

When we were walking home from school one day last week, Sonya informed me that Lourdes had gotten upset and hurt her feelings.  I dug a little deeper for the story and here's how it went from as far as I was told.  

They were getting ready to sit down and do something in class. Usually Lourdes sits next to Sonya, but Sonya decided,

"I've been sitting next to Lourdes for like 100 years!  I wanted Gwen to sit next to me."  

Gwen was eager to sit next to Sonya, and Lourdes got upset.  Apparently, Lourdes told Sonya she wasn't going to be her friend or play with her anymore.  Then Sonya told Lourdes she couldn't come to our house.  Then Sonya cried.  This is no surprise, because Sonya is a crier.  As was I.  Ask Kelly.  This was all during class from what I could tell. 

Somewhere in the middle of this Sonya's teacher, Mrs. Lombardo, came over assessed the situation and pointed out that Lourdes could sit on the OTHER side of Sonya.  Oh.  You mean Sonya has TWO sides and all of this could have been avoided?  Five year olds.  Just because they seem smart for their age, you still have to keep in mind, that age is five.  So Lourdes sat on the other side, they hugged, made up and were friends again.  Ah, if it were only that easy for adults to settle arguments.  

Sonya hasn't talked about it since that day, and she, Lourdes and Gwen still seem to be three best friends.  I moved away after third grade and Kelly got another year of Maryann all by herself before she moved, which killed me. However, there is a good chance these three could stay friends for a long time.  So, I suppose this is only the beginning.  Right now Sonya seems to be the "Maryann" of the three, but I guess that could change too.  Who knows how my friendships would have turned out with Kelly and Maryann, had we all stayed living in North Carolina.  Maybe we'd all still be friends and fighting over who got to bunk with Maryann on our girls trip to Vegas.  Although, I prefer just Kelly and I being great friends, while joking about the possibility of Maryann being a "working girl" in Vegas instead.

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