“Thank you for being a friend, travel down the road and back again, your heart is true you’re a pal and a confident…” The theme song to the famous show Golden Girls signifies the deep relationship the three main characters had with each other. I am happy to say I had a “Golden Girl” friendship; not with three girls but six. From the age of two I attended a Christian school; the school had a major impact on my life, and is a big part of my life. Seven girls: Imani, Kayla, Joi, Shelby, Remel, and Chassity, along with me helped to make up the undying, unbreakable, and ultimately inseparable friendship.

Although we all knew each other, our friendship didn’t really develop until the fifth grade when we all were in the same class. In the fifth grade we developed to be more than just friends, we created a sisterhood. We did everything together! Our undying sisterhood made us inseparable. There were both good times and bad times of course. Times we loved each other and times we wanted to forget we even met each other; but what’s a healthy relationship without a little altercation?

As time progressed we all became each other’s BEST friend. In fifth grade we all helped each other through the first stages of puberty and helped each other cope with the annoying cramps that came each month. From puberty to boyfriends to food to music, we helped each other with it all. In sixth grade we formed a group “Inspired Writers of God.” In this group we created a children’s book of poems, prayers, and pictures. We met each afternoon although we didn’t even work on it each afternoon! It was just time for us to be together. These afternoon sessions are ones that are unforgettable. There was not a thing we didn’t do. We ate so much junk from chips to our faithful grapefruit which we shared every day. We sang both popular songs at the times and of course originals which we made up. We danced and even choreographed a dance or two. We created TV shows in which we would reenact episodes of Maury with our own special twist. We even had a funeral for a guinea pig to help Shelby when her beloved Smooches –as she was affectionately– called passed away. We did everything under the sun!

These sessions were only some of the time we spent together. Not to mention countless sleepovers for birthdays or just because. This time increased the love we had for each other. The sisterly love was so deep it caused one person’s parent to be ALL our parents. So deep it made us handle problems with ease. We were all connected in some way, we could all relate in some way. Some didn’t have fathers, some no mothers, some with only one sibling, some with several, some of us could sing others could dance. In so many ways we filled each other’s voids and hurts and pains we helped each other heal over and over again. Our love connected us into a unique pattern of DNA which is unexplainable; it morphed us into one big family. Our unique talents, similar dreams, and common goal of excellence created seemingly a golden friendship worth so much.

These days, ever since high school, we don’t get to see as much of each other anymore. But the love is still there. Anytime we all get together for anything, you can feel it; the unique blood pumping an weaving us together into a family. The girls I encountered in my elementary years were and are amazing. Now that we all attend selective or even private high schools such as De LaSalle, Whitney Young, Walter Payton, King College Prep and even Jones College Prep. As we further our education and strive for excellence, the time seems to fly and we barely see each other. But we never lose contact and that golden friendship is never tarnished but rather sitting in a trophy case in our hearts. I’ll never forget those girls and the times we shared full of laughter and tears. Gold is a prize possession, but what I have come to understand is the ladies I surrounded myself with were all diamonds in the rough, waiting to be discovered and brought to the surface.

Love never fails and our friendship was created by love so it too will never fail. If I could say one thing to the golden girls it would be: thank you for being a friend