While scrolling through TikTok to waste time that I didn’t have I came across a sound with the following quote:
What is a Best Friend?
Best friends are people who make your problems their problems, just so you don’t have to go through it alone.
That quote resonated with me and I listened to the video a dozen times. That quote sums up the entirety of my friendship with Sherri. In on October 22, 2009 my life changed forever. I had a massive pulmonary embolism with infarction and a stroke. I almost died five days before my 27th birthday. Our innocence was shattered that day. On that day we learned bad things do indeed happen to good people. We learned that birth control has side affects besides mood swings and weight gain. In an instant we learned that the hormones contained in the Nuva Ring can cause blood clots that lead to pulmonary embolisms and stroke. But mostly on that day we learned how to survive together one step at a time.
It wasn’t until years later that I realized Sherri’s life changed on that day too. No one expects to get a text that their friend is in the hospital fighting for her life. Especially when she seemed perfectly fine when you last saw her. Yet Sherri, she got that text and my pulmonary embolism and stroke became hers.
She stood by me as I figured out my new normal, a normal that no longer includes running or strenuous workouts because of lung capacity. And then there is the choking on cold air which is slightly funny and not funny at the same time, because we live in Minnesota and it’s freezing nine month out of the year. Together we have figured out activities that I can do, like brunch! I’m really good at showing up late for brunch. Oh and camping! I can build a fire and cook over said fire like a champ. Mostly, when I get frustrated and mourn the body I once had, Sherri listens and asks me questions to help me realize that my new normal is much better than the old. In truth Sherri did what no one else did, She faced my problem with me, so I didn’t have to face it on my own.
Lord knows if it weren’t for Sherri, I would have ran away to Antarctica and I’d be searching for penguins to have a snow ball fight with. Which I’m pretty sure if I did make it to Antarctica and Sherri caught me in mid throw she’d look at me and say “lady,” with a WTF look and a head shake. No judgment would be passed, just a WTF look and a head shake. Because that is who Sherri is, she is someone who doesn’t judge, she takes on your problems as her own, then lays the unsugar coated truth down, and if necessary she will cut a bitch for you. And that is why she is my best friend.
Bonus… and because she accepts me for who I am, a swearing dinosaur obsessed sometimes tipsy woman with a multitude of bad ideas that we never execute (probably for good reason).
Maybe Swearing Helps 