“Hey, remember Friendsgiving?”

The first time my mother officially left me alone was when I was sixteen.  She went on a cruise for ten days with one of her rich boyfriends. This was a point in life where she really didn’t care what I did as long as I didn’t get in trouble with the police, so I got away with a lot of things most sixteen-year-olds couldn’t.  This was during Thanksgiving break and, being bummed out that I wouldn’t have a place to have a big meal, I decided to throw a ‘Friendsgiving’ party.

At first it was just going to be my main friend group.  I was in charge of making pies and just hosting the whole thing at my Mom’s nice suburban house.  Mom left me with $40, and I needed pie supplies so my best friend, Ronnie, and I walked 3 miles to the Dollar Tree in what we called The Town Center.  We get back to my house and my other friend Megan was there doing laundry and helping clean the place up a bit. Between the three of us, we had some really screwed up family dynamics and home lives, but we all knew how to take care of each other. So anyways, we were prepping the day before the actual party.  I made two pies, forgetting sugar in one, and burning the DollarTree brand crust on the other. This was every high schoolers dream right? To be the kid with the memorable party?

I was super excited and put on this really cool hot pink sweater and some overalls.  Ronnie and Megan were dying their hair pink in the bathroom. There was pink dye on every white surface of that bathroom.  I remember walking in while they were both in the shower in my old t shirts with dye all over them, their soaked clothes, and the towels.  I couldn’t care about the pink all over because they were having such a great time and they both looked so pretty with their matching pink hair.  Three other friends come over and bring some really neat dishes. Despite it being a party, I was actually really excited to have a Thanksgiving meal with the people who mattered to me the most.  Ronnie ended up making a whole ham, which was so funny because she’s this tall skinny thing who doesn’t look like she eats much, making a whole ham in my kitchen. When the party officially starts, word got out that my house was open and that there’s food and ‘fun’,  so people just start showing up.

Megan and I sat in front of the TV playing Minecraft for a while.  In all honesty, I don’t remember much after that. I only remember telling everyone about the pies I messed up making, asking Ronnie to put on Shakira, and then laying on the floor in my room.  When I woke up the next morning, I was a little surprised at what I saw.

The house was completely trashed; cups and plates scattered the floor, the bathroom was still pink but now smelled like vomit, the ham was on the floor, and my two cats were happily munching away.  I was so hungry. I remember drinking at least half a gallon of water as soon as I could actually stand and start to think. There were people sleeping on the floor in my living room that I didn’t even know.  It was kind of awesome. Ronnie had slept next to me on the floor of my room. She was there with me all night.

Megan made a pot of coffee.  Her and Ronnie sat on my bedroom floor with me and told me what had happened, after I told them I could only remember parts of the night.  They said I just laid on the floor for a while and cracked jokes. Typical me. Then I suggested to play spin the bottle, like that guy in “13 Going On 30”.  Gross. Then I started puking. Then other people started puking. And somehow they cleaned me up and put me to bed. Like a 16 year old baby.

Hearing all this, I was so embarrassed.  Like wow, I can’t handle a party! How lame!  And I was embarrassed that Ronnie had to worry so much about me.  And I was upset that my house was trashed. But, just as I had looked into the bathroom while the girls were dying their hair, I looked at the mess, looked at them, and just laughed.  I laughed all day that day. They were still so pretty to me. And the fact that they took care of me and helped me with everything made me happier than anything else could really.

Looking back at this time in my life, even though Megan and I don’t speak anymore, and even though Ronnie lives 1,500 miles away from me, I still think of the pink bathroom around this time of year.  Talking to Ronnie, all I’ve got to say is “Hey, remember Friendsgiving that one year?” And we’ll talk and laugh about it for a good while.

Photo by pCka on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA