What is a best friend or should I say, WHO is your best friend? I know someone pops into your mind when you read this.
When I think of my best friend in the whole world, one girl comes to mind. She is my confidant and best pal. She is my soundboard and my source of laughter. She is the girl who brings so much goodness to my life and has for as long as I can remember! She is, Andréa (better known as Drizz)!
We have been there for each other through the waves that life has rolled in. Over the years I have been asked on numerous occasions how she and I have remained such true, genuine friends and it isn’t until now that I am sitting down with my best pal where we talk about all things regarding our friendship! We will answer your questions, we will make you laugh and we also might make you cry. This is my first coffee chat with my best pal, Drizz!
How did we become friends?
Andrea: We became friends in dancing, when we were little. Going to two different middle schools separated us, but we reunited in high school. Our rekindled friendship began in civics class, sophomore year of high school. I’m pretty sure we shared the laughter of how our teacher drank her Diet Coke, and how Jessica would sleep nearly everyday… because I was never brave enough to do it. By the time our senior year came, we were inseparable. We dressed-up together for nearly all dress-up days, and we were having sleepovers several days a week. And here we are… over 10 years later.
Jessica: Andrea and I actually go as far back as 1997 when we were just little girls tapping our toes in dancing class. It wasn’t until high school, 9th grade, that we went to the same school so other than her attending some of my birthday parties growing up, we didn’t get close until high school. Sophomore year was when our friendship really kicked off! We basically became friends because Andrea would always laugh at my jokes and she understood my sense of humor! We were both always ready to bring the fun and laughs, so I always tell people our friendship was founded on laughter!
What is one of the most memorable moments of our friendship?
Andrea: I’m glad the word “moments” is plural, and I do not have to point out a single, particular moment. I would say the most memorable moments are the ones we shared when there was only a wall separating our bedroom – being roommates in college. Jess and I weren’t just “roommates.” We did SO much together – grocery shopping, dinner, library studies, watched tv series, Tri Sigma, partied. The list goes ON.
Jessica: Oh my goodness! How do I even choose!? I mean this is hard…Really, really hard, but I think that one of the most memorable moments of our friendship was when Andrea surprised me for graduation party when I earned my master’s degree in May of 2018. When I tell you I was shocked and couldn’t BELIEVE she was walking up to me in my driveway, UGH TEARS!!! I have a rock solid friend in this girl, y’all.
How do we maintain bestfriendship?
Andrea: I think we maintain “bestfriendship” by talking every single day – simply checking in and seeing how each other’s day is going. We are also super honest and trustworthy with each other about everything we talk about. I think we also embrace how different we are from one another but also how we balance each other out SO well.
Jessica: This is EASY! There are SO MANY WAYS we maintain bestfriendship! TONS! I have always thought that Andrea and I were separated at birth, truly. We are so alike, but so opposite that our friendship is one of my lifelines. I couldn’t survive without her in my life- ever! I always say she is one of the people I HAVE to talk to on the daily to feel complete. I think this desire to be in each other’s every day lives is what helps us to maintain bestfriendship.
What is something you and I have bonded over?
Andrea: I know I sound like a broken record talking about roommates in college, but really, that was 5 MAJOR years of my life. Throughout the years of 2012 to 2017, we have experienced SO much together, as roommates. Best times AND toughest times. Everything from late night sweet snacks, spending hours studying in starbucks to family and relationship struggles to graduating college and career changes.
Jessica: We have bonded over more things than most people could! We bond over, maroon bag (ultimate chocolate lovers) toll house cookies, screenshotting photos and sending them to one another, homemade waffles, and life. We bond over our life- every single facet of life too! Andrea and I have been through every major life event that has taken place in our lives (ever) together.
What was a hard point in our friendship?
Andrea: I say a hard point in our friendship is when I moved out and moved to NC 14 hours away.
Jessica: My heart broke the day my best pal moved to North Carolina for 2 years. I remember crying on my parents sofa feeling as though I was mourning a death. Andrea was my college roommate (as well as my best friend) and the thought of not seeing her every day was nearly unbearable. I had some tough days without her, but we did have many 7-8 hour phone conversations that would make up for it!
How did we persevere?
Andrea: We talked EVERYDAY. Every. Single. Solitary. Day. Jess even came to NC to visit me, and I surprised her for her graduation party. We NEVER skipped a beat. I knew every aspect of her life, and she knew every aspect of mine. And now, I love nothing more than to only be 30 minutes away from each other.
Jessica: We talked ALL DAY EVERY DAY in some form or fashion. It was hard…really really hard to be apart, but we made it work and my best friend is BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER living her BEST LIFE with her hubs, 3 dogs and kitten:)
What is something you and I have belly laughed over?
Andrea: Jess and I belly laugh at MANY things, especially memories we shared together like dress-up days in high school, and Jess’s karaoke rendition of Celine Dion and Jessica Simpson. I personally still crack up at the fact that Jessica came up with the name “Drizz” for me many years ago, and yet so many people still refer to me as “Drizz” to this exact day. To many people I am “Drizz,” and I love it! She used to gather a cheer squad and come to my intramural games, with posters in hand, yelling ” Go Drizzwald! Go Galliano Wildcats!” And the name stuck.
Jessica: We have belly laughed over a million and one things over the years, but one thing we belly laughed over and still do to this day, is Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella! We can belly laugh over that movie! I don’t know why or how we even watched this movie together, but we did! If you haven’t watched it, you need to! I can still hear us in my childhood bedroom belly laughing at all hours of the night over things we saw on Facebook or funny things we were saying or doing. Our friendship was founded on laughter, so picking just one thing is nearly impossible!
What are some fun things we love to do together?
Andrea: 1. Car ride around Houma/Thibodaux bouncing from restaurant to coffee shop and back. 2. Spending days in Nola shopping and restaurant hopping. 3. Broadway musicals. 4. Sitting in apartment 104 on the couch, sipping on coffee or wine and just chatting. 5. Chatting on the phone for hours. PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING!
Jessica: Honestly, I could be sitting in a ditch and have fun with Andrea! We love to talk on the phone, text or send voice messages to one another when we are busy and don’t have time to talk on the phone. We absolutely love to go to New Orleans and restaurant/bar hop. Honestly, we can be together anywhere and doing anything and we manage to make it fun!
What are some things we do to support one another?
Andrea: We always encourage each other to go after our dreams and ambitions, and we are always giving the most truthful advice for both great and… not so great things. I know that, when I need a good laugh, I can call Jess right up, and she will crack up a joke realllll quickly.
Jessica: Andréa has supported me as long as we have been friends. I think this is one reason why we have remained so close over the years. I knew from a young age that she wasn’t going anywhere. I have a deep seeded fear of losing people in my life and I always knew she would be a constant in my life. I know I can be bold in saying I am that same person for her. She knows that anything she has done and will ever do in life will be fully supported by me. Her dreams are also my dreams because that is what friendship is. That is what support is. She has supported me along my journey through college, grad school, my job and also my blog. Most importantly, she has supported me in life, especially in the last year when I needed it most. I pray you who may be reading this right now are this kind of friend to someone. I pray you who may be reading this right now find a friend in someone like I have in Drizz because I truly feel like I have the BEST friend and sister a girl can ask for!
What is your best advice you would give to girls who haven’t found a lifelong best friend?
Andrea: I think that your lifelong best friend will definitely come.; it’s never too late. That person may be someone you’ve least expected, OR that person may be someone that’s been right in front of you… just make take some time. My best advice would be to continue being YOU; that person will love you for who YOU are, and then you’ll know. That person will be someone you know you can’t live without, and you will want to make every last effort, even in your busiest season of life, to make plans to see or even talk to. A lifelong friend will accept you for who you are, even if you’re trying to figure it all out, or even when you don’t have it figured out.
Jessica: Keep searching and never stop looking until you find your lifelong bestie. I know that is an easy response, but I have had friends in my life who I knew wouldn’t stick around. I knew they were temporary and would only be around for a season in my life. PLEASE know the difference and know there is a difference. I think as a person your friends should change because essentially, you/we change. So of course the people in our circle change. Lifelong friends stay. Lifelong friends change with you. Lifelong friends evolve with you and that is the difference. Trust me, you know this person/people when they come into your life.
What is your best advice you would give to girls who have found a lifelong best friend?
Andrea: My advice: keep working! In a “best friendship,” it takes two. Keep in touch. Keep laughing together. Keep crying together. Keep taking adventures together. Keep accepting each other. Keep trusting each other. Keep loving each other. Keep supporting each other.
Jessica: If you have found your lifelong best friend, CONGRATULATIONS! You are one of the lucky ones! You should feel like the luckiest girl in the world because everyone is not lucky enough to find this. Friendship takes work, period, but the difference with a lifelong friend is that they understand when time passes and you may have not talked for a few days or haven’t seen one another in a while. Time and distance apart may go on, but lifelong friends pick up right where they leave off. There is no awkwardness when you see or talk to one another, it just feels natural. If you have found your lifelong bestie, you know this is true and you have probably experienced it yourself. My best advice is to love your best friend unconditionally, show up when they need you and always, always support them. I know my best pal checks all of these boxes:)
