This is a love letter to the year 2013, because you’ve been my favourite since you happened.
2013 was a year of firsts.
My first trip to Europe. My first tattoo. My first time having the honour of being a bridesmaid. My first time hiking The Chief, and I’ve been obsessed with that view ever since ⛰️.
2013 was that year when I lived across the street from all my best friends and we spent all of our free time together. We wandered into each other’s apartments like real-life Kramers and Chandlers, and it was rare for more than 24 hours to pass without them being at my place or me being at theirs.
I swear I think I threw house parties every weekend that whole year, each with a different theme: The summer in winter party, family background party, balloon party, white t-shirt party, rockstar party, douchebag party, anything but clothes party, Rubik’s Cube party, and the stay-up-all-night party before my flight to Europe, when I wanted to beat jet lag and wake up on London time (it totally worked).
And whenever we’d wake up bleary eyed and dehydrated the next morning, we’d make a big breakfast and head to The Chief to hike off our hangovers. Ah, our twenties.
I spent a lot of 2013 in what I thought was love (in that way that in your youth you can mistake love for anything else). But honestly, living for the hope of it all can be a beautiful thing too and I cherish the memories of that feeling.
2013 was a year of passionate friendship en masse. We rope-swinged. We pub-golfed. We played Cards Against Humanity every weekend. We Gangnam Style’d on every dance floor. We had a potluck and watched the new Game of Thrones every Sunday night.
Marta Kauffman once said, “‘Friends’ was about that time in your life when your friends are your family”. 2013 was that time for me. And I’ve since learned that that time never has to end if you choose the right friends.
2013
