Read:
Verse One.
Verse Two.
Verse Three.
Verse Four.
Well, really Verse One is the post that explains what's going on. Read that one anyway.
Friendships.
My teenage years were where I learned what friendship really was. I learned how to be a friend, how not to be a friend, and to be grateful for true friends.
This song....along with Usher's You Make Me Wanna.....make me think of friends and trends.
I remember LOVING rap and RandB music just after I decided to un-love the Backstreet Boys. And really, I don't think I actually was in-love with it....it was just fun to enjoy with friends...because it was "the" music to love at the time. I even think my big act of rebellion at the time was buying the Usher CD without my mom knowing....mostly because it had a "Parental Advisory" label on it. Such a rebel... haha! Listening to it all just made me feel....(cough, cough) cool (cough, scoff).
Fast Forward a few years to when Ska and Punk music were outta-control-awesome. Enter "What's the Dillio" and a bajillion other songs that we would blare from the radio speakers. I think this song was discovered when friend-boys left it in my car CD player one day in the form of a couple burned CD's...and never saw it again. Me, and a couple other gal-pals who were crazy about the music they left behind (and maybe secretly about them, too) just...um....kept the CD's safe until the boys forgot about them entirely. Or just burned other copies. Either way, we got to pretend we were Punk Connoisseurs, and let our punk-chick-selves come through every time we popped those songs in. And felt...(cough, cough...) well, y'know...
My Fifteenth Birthday.
I turned 15 at the biggest church camp ever...E.F.Y.!
I had friends there at that camp with me that made me feel beyond special that day. They decorated the dorm room we stayed in with balloons and streamers. They bought me a crown and made me wear it all day so everyone would know. The night before, the dreamiest a-capella band EVER (Remember Colors?) were signing autographs...and my buddies made sure that they knew it was my birthday; they sang Happy Birthday to me, and I melted. My 15-year-old self fell in love with every single one of those married men. My buddies bought me a whole roll of duct tape aaaaallll to myself (confused? so you shall stay. my (not-so)*secret* obsession. HA!). The boys in our group bought me a blizzard and sang me "Happy Birthday." I felt so....loved by those friends who made the effort to make my day a special one.
We may have danced to this song the night of my birthday....or just another night...(or two or three other nights)....while we were there. Either way, it reminds me of the blast we had busting a move together...dancing CRRRRaaaazy and laughing so so hard. It reminds me of just having a blast with friends that loved me.
For friends who just understood.
I think maybe it's a teenage plague....the feeling that nobody understands. Maybe it comes from the conflict between the part of you that's more adult than people realize and give you credit for...fighting with the side of you that just feels so small. It's tough to be a teenager.
Personally, I really felt like I had made a tough, mature decision...the right decision...the break up with that boy when I did. But it hurt so much; and I went through so much as a result that I just didn't understand, that I thought was my fault...that I just felt like no one understood what I was going through...and why it stuck with me for SoOOooo long. That, combined with the normal ups and downs of figuring out whether I was grown-up or little, left me feeling pretty lonely sometimes. Can every teenager not relate to that? Oh, it's tough to be a teenager! Where's one now? I need to hug one.
Anyways.
It helped me to value and appreciate the friends that took the time to really listen. It strengthened my resolve to be a better friend...to be a better listener. Around the ages of 16-17, friendship started to mean different things to me. It didn't just mean someone who liked the same music as me or did their hair the same...it meant spending time together and listening and sharing opinions without fear of judgement and friends that cared more about your spiritual well-being than your feelings....who would encourage you to be better than you were even if it meant calling you out on certain things.
The year I was 17, I had friends like that. And that group didn't just include the ones that hung out all the time. We all did CRAZY things together. We told secrets to each other. Big secrets. And trusted each other with them.We defended each other...even if we were defending each other from...each other. We encouraged each other to be better. We had us... and that was all that really mattered. And we loved making new friends. We didn't have to be anything less than ourselves to be accepted. And we disagreed on many-a-thing....but loved each other anyways, and told each other so. Often. I wouldn't trade that time for anything. One of those friends learned this song on the piano by ear. It's just so...GOOD. And it fits the way I felt about friends...and how I wanted to feel about my future Prince Charming.
So this song is for the besties: The ones I will always be friends with, no matter how old we get, no matter how far we live from each other, or how long it's been since we talked last.
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