The one with the final bow

Twenty years ago today, Friends aired its final episode.

That means that Friends aired its first episode 30 years ago.

That means I’m old.

Ok, we know that.

What it also means, is that show ranks up there with only a handful of people who have been in my life for 30 plus years.

And yes, that show is my people.

That show is… my friend.

Oddly enough when it first aired I wasn’t that into it.

Sept 22, 1994 – I was at American University

Living in a house w my boyfriend at the time and, well, four other friends.

So the show was just, eh, a causal glance in the mirror.

It wasn’t until I watched reruns ( remember those!) when I lived in England that I got to know these “Friends”.

At the time I was also addicted to Party of Five – one could say the tv just pacified my American homesickness.

Nevertheless, by the time I moved to Tally in 2000 I was certifiably a Must-See TV Thursday night home by 8pm kinda gal.

With a programmed VCR recording as back up – of course.

Chel and I used to rush home from our favorite spin class at Gold’s – Michelle was the instructor and she always wanted to run the class long – just to watch, sometimes together in person, sometimes together on the phone.

Then of course came the network reruns at 7 and 7:30 and again at 11 and then more over the weekends and then, well HBO and Netflix.

I legitimately can’t count how many times I’ve seen each episode. I know I’ve run through the entire catalog from beginning to end about a dozen times – and that’s just thru the streaming services.

So one would not be exaggerating rounding up to the statement “I’ve spent about a thousand hours of my life watching Friends.”

I watch when I’m bored.

I watch when I’m sad.

I watch when I’m lonely.

I watch when I need a distraction.

I watch it for background noise.

I watch to laugh.

I watch to zone out.

I watch to see my favorite parts.

I watch to hear my favorite lines.

I watch for some really groundbreaking television topics.

I watch ( and cringe) to see some very inappropriate or hopelessly outdated and ignorant topics.

I watch to discuss the above.

I watch to forget.

I watch with different people at different stages of my life and I see it, hear it, experience it differently.

And yet, each time, each episode there is always one thing, one comeback, one side glance or gesture or background character I’ve never seen or heard or registered before – and I genuinely, wholeheartedly laugh.

30 years later and the writing is still sharp.

25 years later and the acting is still on point.

20 years later and the content is still… like looking in a mirror.

They are my friends.

They are my comfort food.

They are my warm, cozy blanket.

They are my memories.

They are my tissues.

They are my journals.

They too, are old.

And … one of them has died.

And I experienced grief as if my own village lost someone.

💔

I buy a lot of the branded clothes.

And magnets and mugs.

And others buy that stuff for me.

And I make references to show more than I should, appropriately and inappropriately, in meetings and texts and with the kids and to complete strangers.

And so maybe, all the cliches and pop culture hipness aside, Friends really is “my show” and I really am just a crazy, super fan.

But after three decades of friendship, you just don’t give up when it starts to get a little crazy.