Ten Years

Ten year anniversaries are pretty serious business, especially when you've only two decades of living under your belt. Ten years ago, we embarked on the war in Iraq. Ten years ago, the world had the SARS scare. Ten years ago, Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean (the original)  and Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King were released. (How 'bout them apples?) But, there was one more earth rattling event that happened in 2003, one that was missed by the major news networks (actually, by all news networks) and it was: the eighth grade field trip upon which Victoria and I became best friends. (There's no way you were expecting that.)

Yes, this month marks the tenth anniversary of my best friend and me, and I cannot honor it enough - we've been through thick, thin, and so many inside jokes that we can't even keep track of them all. 

The Way We Became Best Friends

The tale of Miss Victoria and I goes back beyond our decade of being best friends. Waaaaay back in 1998, we met in the sunshine of the playground of our elementary school. The circles that we traveled in were composed of different packs, so we did not really get to know each other too well (it wasn't a large school by any means). We did have a short time together in a group on the corner of the streets holding enormous "STOP" signs to direct cars, when 9-10 year old crossing guards was not considered a horrible idea. I remember that we were not in the same classes together, until fifth grade. We started to talk around about this time, but nothing too serious. We attended weekend classes together, and our distaste for the curriculum began to draw us together.

Come middle school, our groups began to gather in the same spot in the morning, by the old brick wall on the west side of campus - this was the cool spot. There is a distinct memory that comes to mind of Victoria walking up the hill in her bright red Elmo shirt and one of our friends, who used to hide behind a wall of shrubs leaping out onto Victoria's backpack. While funny at the time, probably wasn't the best thing for Victoria, but a morning without Courtney jumping on her was like a day without bread. The goblin awaiting her in the shrubs thing eventually stopped and all was well.

It was during seventh grade that Victoria and I sat next to each other in History Class. Victoria would probably insert here, "You mean, when there wasn't a day when you wouldn't drop your pencil." Fact. Every time that class met, my pencil would fall off the desk at some point and because they were those awkward tablet desks, I could never reach the pencil, so Victoria would have to grab it - the bond between us grew.

It was around this time that Victoria and I started to hang out beyond the confines of school. On the night of our Elementary School's annual Halloween Carnival (the best in the nation, if you ask me), Victoria told me that she was going to win the cake walk - of course I doubted her resolve. Of course, she won. So we presented to my grandma a lovely black cake and Victoria spent the night - it was the first sleep over and we spent it sprawled out in grandma's living room. At 5 in the morning the door bell rang: it was my Uncle Buzz, telling us that the glow on the horizon was not the sun rising - it was the entire east county on fire - where his and my Aunt Deb's house was at the time.This was one of the biggest fires to hit Southern CA, and it was a doozy. I'll never forget that morning.

Different costume, different year, different cake,same concept

In the next year, Victoria and I became hyper-competitive. We used to race EVERY DAY from our home rooms to a pole that was between the classes. We used to race during warm ups in P.E. We even used to race to Math class. I wouldn't have made it through math class without Victoria.

We both signed up to do the eighth grade field trip, which was to fly us across the US to tour historical sites in Virginia, D.C., Pennsylvania, and New York. When we landed in Dulles, there were two buses and Victoria was supposed to be on a different one than me; I can't remember why, but she ended up on the bus with me. We didn't sit together at first, but after dinner at a buffet, in which ice cream was spilled and Virginians welcomed us into their culture, we sat together as we did for the rest of the trip.

With our peers, Victoria and I walked the grounds of Gettysburg, toured Monticello and Mount Vernon; we ate the best fried chicken ever in Amish Land and sipped lemonade that was so good, wasting a drop would have been extremely embarrassing. We walked the crazy, mad wild streets of NYC - seeing Ellis Island, the Empire State Building, the Lion King, and Central Park. 

Off to see The Lion King

I think that it is safe to say that we have shared over a thousand adventures together. I'm grateful for every popping Jalapeno popper, trip to IN-N-OUT (mmmm, animal fries), adventures at the Del, spontaneous sleep-overs, and backyard bonfires. (I've been at Victoria's house and hung out with her family more times than I can remember. My memories of Sea Port Village, the Del, and the Market Place would not nearly be as rich without them.) We've added an inch or two to our heights since 8th grade and our hair styles have changed, but our endless laughing when we are together has always stayed the same.

Ninth Grade at the SD Zoo

Junior Year ~ October Breast Cancer Walk

18 ~ Seniors

Easter Recess, 2012

Victoria, long live the CHI, "churn my butter-scotch"! And of course, happy anniversary!

Your humble writer,

S. Faxon

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