Ashley and I look like two peas in a pod.

Classic best friends: Same figures, glasses, same class schedule, similar habits and ideologies. But our personalities? Polar opposites. If you had known us back in high school, you’ld have wondered, “What set the foundation of their friendship?” 

She wanted peace. I wanted chaos. (Not the kind that’s going to get me in detention, obviously.)

You see, I am the girl who will turn a hello into, “Dudeee! You won’t believe what happened to me over the weekend!!” All while jumping around like an excited rabbit. I’ve got a humour which (unfortunately) knows no ends nor, to the detriment of my punchlines, beginnings. (It turns out, set ups are important. Maybe volunteering for a non profit storytelling group will help me with this.) 

Simply put, the closer you are to me, the crazier I will be.

Her, on the other hand? 

She’s a quiet girl, satisfied with low-energy activities like watching me go all over the place. A coffee lover who likes to keep her peace in one piece. And somehow, this actually works to keep her sanity intact. I presume this difference in vibe brought us close. She’d bear with my hectic activities, such as me trying to feed her pasta the time her hand was hurt and ended up with some pasta on the table, spoon in her mouth, and I was laughing too hard to take it out.

As mentioned, we looked similar and gained the term ‘twins’ at one point in highschool. It wouldn’t be easy to tell us apart far away because the only main difference we had was her hair was a bit longer than mine and straighter.

One typical day we were sitting at the same table, wearing our blue uniforms with ash overcoats in our math class, somewhere in the middle rows as usual. We didn’t necessarily learn in this class as we’d both finish the work much earlier than our classmates and just chat. That day I finished my part of the work before she did and suddenly I had a crazy thought. 

Which I couldn’t wait to share.

“Hey, Ashley.”

“Wait a bit, I’m doing this sum,” she murmured, head bent, frowning at the textbook.  

“Nah, don’t worry. Just listen to me for a sec.”

“Waaaaait till I finish.” Her eyes were glued to the sum at hand. 

I was much better at ignoring her than she was at ignoring me, “So, you know how when kids are born, parents normally join their surnames and name the baby? Like Kate Willson-Smith?”

Ashley looked up, evidently curious “Uhh… yes, but why are you bringing this up?”

“So, if Shelly Post and John Lamp marry, will their kid be something like Mary Lamp-Post?!”

This is not my finest comedic work.

But you don’t get to choose your audience’s favorite joke. The world loves Starry Night but Van Gogh thought it was meh. Damien Hurst is soooo over that shark in a tank but every article about him shows that or the diamond skull.

But your audience gets to decide what they love the best. And you’re doing it for the audience. This was a moment in history. Now, she ended up hating me and suppressing her laughter at the same time, bending down on her book of sums trying not to gain the teacher’s eye-of-sauron attention. 

And as time has passed, she’s convinced me that the reason this joke is so good is because it’s a gift that keeps giving. For the rest of her life, her quiet mind will be spinning up new hyphenated surnames, forever mixing and matching and finding endless comic combinations. 

This might not have been a big moment that kept us giggling for the whole period, but it was certainly big enough to be kept alive in our memories even after all these years. 

These little moments, the mundane everyday titters we do and say randomly, make our relationship lovely and special. For the rest of the world, it was just another day in math class. But for us, it was another grand addition to our collection of inside jokes. 

Inside jokes solidify a friendship

Even you, my dear reader, might not be a person who gets to experience a weekend at Burj Kalifa, sipping champagne at the beachfront during the day and enjoying long drives at night (or you might be, no judgment here.) But you, too, just like me and Ashley and the rest of the world, have access to things that will make you smile. It could be as simple as a stroll in the nearest park with your best friend. 

Whatever it is, whoever it is, make memories with them. Try something new. For when time and distance pull you apart, you’ll have these to keep you company. And one day you will look back, grin a little and be grateful to have ever experienced surch things.

Create more memories for all that matters.