“The best of friends must part.”
~ Anonymous Proverb
For as long as I can remember, I have danced. And in all of those same memories there one person laughs and moves along with me. We were more than best friends; we were sisters. We were one in the same. It was always “Courtney and Amanda”. But we were two halves of one person. The pale, studious moon and the vibrant, energetic sun. Between us the world was complete, but like all good things we had to part because the sun and moon can never take center stage simultaneously.
The class was large, it had to be. We were supposed to be 101 Dalmatians, but there was only twenty of us. Twenty energetic nine-year-olds squirming at the back of the mirrored-room, dreaming of becoming the next dance star. I eyed those around me, sizing up their potential. I spotted one girl who was my age chattering with another in our class. I realized that she was my complete opposite. Loud, hyper, confident, uncaring. I turned to “my friends” and asked what they thought of the class. I was interrupted by the teacher waltzing into the room. She immediately began placing us in our spots. Surprisingly I was next to the girl from earlier. She looked at me, smiled broadly and exclaimed, “Hi, I’m Courtney. Who are you?” The rest, you could say, was history.
We saw each other every night in class for the next seven years. During that time I realized that most of my assumptions were true. She was my opposite and our lives orbited around one another. Where one went the other was sure to follow, the “sun” usually leading the way. But we also began to pick up one another’s traits. I became more outspoken and she understood the importance of listening. Even our thoughts echoed one another’s. Whenever there was a sleep over, round of “Jinx! You owe me a coke!” could be heard throughout the night. We kept tally until my thirteenth birthday, when the score was a staggering 254 to 30 with me on the losing end after an incident with a speeding car.
Even when we started separate adventures known as high school, we did not grow apart. If anything, we grew closer. As homework loads and parental pressure increased, we made time spent in classes and together on the weekends even more sacred.
But with the passing of time, things never remain the same. I moved on from the place where we met. To a new dance school. Our ever increasing responsibilities, (jobs, school) pulled us apart and I found that our friendship may not have been as strong as I believed it to be. I noticed faults within our relationship. Began to view her as not expressive, but obnoxious. Not energetic, but childish. I also realized that it was those exact things that made us friends. I once idolized her. Noticing her maladies made my strengths more prominent.
The sun and moon must always part. They are sisters of the sky, but we often view the moon as a lesser body when in comparison to the sun. But when the last light of day fades, our attention is directed toward the equally stunning moon. Our paths are identical to the celestial bodies that represent us. Our lives rarely cross, but when they do it is an event that should not be missed.
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