monshep.com: Friend Friday: 0-5 Edition

Tomorrow marks a national holiday. It's not just Cinco de Mayo; it's National 0-5 day! Circa the beginning of tenth grade, the stars aligned and I started hanging out with four of the funniest girls on the planet. We had a pretty big group of friends, but at some point, someone referenced us as the original five in the group. Enter 0-5. The Original Five. I know. It sounds totally lame, and I'm embarrassed a little typing that. I'm sure some of them will be slightly mortified I'm writing this. We even had our version of a gang sign. I mean, as gangster as you could be in Virginia Beach at Cox High School. Some of my favorite memories from life are with these girls. I wouldn't be who I am without them. I take great pride in the fact that we are all still friends, we celebrate life events together, and are there for each other if we need anything. We are spread across the US- from Los Angeles, to DC, to Wilmington, NC, to Lynchburg & Hampton, VA. Meet 0-5.

Shima Razavi: We met in middle school, and secretly say we are the original two (0-2). I wrote a blog about her here. For more information on Shima, read this. In high school everyone loved Shima. She was (and still is) full of joy and loves butterflies. We might have had one or two classes together, but not many because Shima is smarter than me. We weren't what you call "sporty", so we hung out at our friends' games to cheer them on. She'll deny it now, but she also was involved with SCA stuff and was bursting with school spirit. After high school, Shima graduated from NYU, and now he lives in Los Angeles, is dating Eddie, and has an adorable dog named Egon. Rob and Eddie like each other a lot and that is important to me.

Shima & I home from college for the summer. Later in the night she ended up in a full scuba costume. You can't make this stuff up.

Erika Temple Calle: I literally met Erika on National Make a New Friend Day. I don't remember why we knew that, but we did. Erika is hilarious and has sweet dance moves. She played sports and drove big trucks. She may or may not have always had a boyfriend. Erika and I had almost every class together our sophomore year, and it was awesome. I spent the night at her house all the time- even on school nights. Erika successfully received 7 different tickets with me as her passenger. You can't make that stuff up. Most were for speeding, one was for drag racing (for which we went to court even though she wasn't drag racing), and one for running a stop sign. I've never gotten a ticket while driving in my life. Erika got her license first, so she drove us everywhere, and she had a boat, so she was always toting us around! Erika played field hockey at VCU where she graduated with about three majors and six minors all related to business. Erika and her husband, Eddie, currently live in Lynchburg, VA, with their two girls, Jade and Jordan.

Erika and I always took the photos ourselves. I have about 100 of the two of us in this pose.

Marie Kassir Payne: She is still one of my favorite people in the world. Marie is the red head in the group. She is spunky, classy, bold, and witty. Don't let this petite shorty fool you; she is fierce. We choreographed dance routines to Bangles' songs in her bedroom. Marie and I were co-chairs of our Junior Prom and maybe our Senior prom. I also had the privilege of rooming with Marie our freshmen year of college at Longwood. We lived in an all girls dorm with no air conditioning. There were some nights we were sure we would die of heat exhaustion, but we made it. She left me for JMU the next year, but freshmen year was still the best. We galavanted around to just about every college in Virginia on the weekends, but became regulars at Randolph-Macon. Marie is a lobbyist (I think that's what she does) in DC, and is married to Tanner the Texan.

Yay for just graduating from high school!

Britt Moore Thompson: Britt is our all-American member of the group. Everything she touches turns to gold; she's literally good at everything. Varsity cheerleader, varsity field hockey, and gymnast; however, she can't just be a gymnast. She went to Junior Olympics because she was that good. I never had classes with Britt because she was in all AP classes. Me? Just Honors stuff. We did, however, write cheesy songs for SCA events and got things done. Britt wrote the best notes in high school and sent the best letters when I was away in the summer. Britt graduated and headed to UVA (where she was a first year mind you; not a freshman!) and then went to William & Mary for her Masters. Here is where she met Matt, and they are living happily ever after in Wilmington, NC, with a daughter, Perry, and new son, Lane!

Britt & I at our ten year high school reunion. She has the best laugh in the world!

I can't even imagine how many hours we spent together. Our favorite things included: dancing, eating, laughing, singing loudly while we drove as we performed synchronized dance moves, trips to Nagshead, and sleepovers. One of the best parts was that we didn't always have to be together. There wasn't drama or jealousy if two or three of us were together without the others. However, it was just natural to all be together. There were adventures with boys, we got caught skipping school, we snuck out at night, we pulled pranks that we thought were hilarious, and we were obnoxious; however, we were good girls. I will never be able to listen to Karma Chameleon, Madonna, Counting Crows, Mariah Carey, or the Bangles without a giggle, smile, or a subtle dance move. One thing that made us so fantastic was/is our parents. All ten of our parents loved and supported us, and provided opportunities that made life easy. Rob says my high school experience was like 90210. It wasn't that extreme, but it was a pretty charmed four years.

Our original five has grown. We have welcomed four husbands and six children into our lives. (We are anticipating welcoming another husband before we're 40- yes, I'm calling you out.) We have cried tears of happiness together, and unfortunately we have mourned together. I get teased by them for loving & remembering our memories so much and because I took way too many pictures of our last 18+ years together. It's not that I live in the past; I just appreciate it. I didn't bring much to the table, but they accepted me, loved me, and instilled a sense of security during high school. Not many girls get to have that.

I have approximately 1,000 photos of us, all of which I adore. I also have oodles of VHS tapes of sleepovers, homecomings, and general nonsense. I think it's all hilarious, but I know they'd disown, if not kill, me and I need them in my life. I chose a few. Enjoy.