Before FaceBook, I Still Had Friends

Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe.For ten years, I was on a first name basis with these six ridiculously attractive people. I was a smidge younger but they didn't seem to mind that I hung out weekly at their irrationally large yet affordable Manhattan apartments. What jobs they had were inconsequential. The schedules were relaxed but evidently lucrative enough to maintain an active NY lifestyle.When Friends made its TV debut, I was recently engaged and working as an actress in Houston. I lived vicariously through their lives in the Big Apple. I wanted to dance in a fountain! I could work in a coffee house -- at least as well as Rachel! Surely if Joey could land a Soap Opera, I could! It was all there waiting for me. Long before Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda, the romantic meanderings and weavings in and out of relationships (inside and outside the group) of the sextet served as sex in the city.But truth be told,  the song was what really got me.So no one told you life was going to be this way.Your job's a joke, you're broke, you're love life's DOA.It's like you're always stuck in second gear,Well, it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year.Now I understand the irony of this song referencing these people as being stuck in second gear but nonetheless, it resonated with me. And still does. Because what makes a girl of the nineties with a chronic illness and sleep issues happy? Friends, of course.Yes! Nick at Night is now running hours of chunky, gooey 90's goodness. Dark lips. Long skirts. Clunky shoes. And all those "how you doing?"s. While I now find Ross more whiney than earnest, and Rachel's post Ross boyfriend antics  more ridiculous than endearing but all in all, they're still friends. And they're still there for me... when the rain starts to pour or I can't sleep at 3:00 am.So do you have "Friends"? So no one told you life was going to be this way.Your job's a joke, you're broke, you're love life's DOA.It's like you're always stuck in second gear,Well, it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year.But, I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour.I'll be there for you, like I've been there before.I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too.You're still in bed at ten, the work began at eight.You've burned your breakfast, so far, things are going great.Your mother warned you there'd be days like these,But she didn't tell you when the world has brought you down to your knees.That, I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour.I'll be there for you, like I've been there before.I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too.No one could ever know me, no one could ever see me.Seems like you're the only one who knows what it's like to be me.Someone to face the day with, make it through all the rest with,Someone I'll always laugh with, even at my worst, I'm best with you.It's like you're always stuck in second gear,Well, it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year.But, I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour.I'll be there for you, like I've been there before.I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too.(The Renbrandts)