An Ode to My Best Friends

by Row Sullivan

I’m sure that romance is cool and all, with the bouquets of flowers and chocolate hearts, and whatever happens on Tinder (I’m choosing to be willfully ignorant here). Forgive me, though, if I think it’s all a little overblown.

Every day we throw romance on a pedestal; we put it at the center of our lives, and we act as if it will make our lives substantially better. It’s a nice thought, and I’m not arguing that romance isn’t worth the endeavor, but does it have to be so black and white? I don’t think romance makes our lives any better, just different. It’s people that make our lives better, and more often than not, it’s our friends.

We give romance the spotlight almost every other day of the year. If Valentine’s Day is about love, I’d rather dedicate it to the people that I actually choose time and time again, and in return, the people who choose me.

I’m perfectly ok without a significant other, but I’d be lost without my closest friends. Friends are what give us things to do and people to talk to.

They’re the ones that make us tempted to give up on romance altogether. They’re the ones that people will speculate that we’re dating when we’re not, and the ones we make pacts with to live together in our 30s if we’ve both given up on romance. They’re the ones we tell everything to. They’re the ones who actually love us unconditionally and won’t judge us for who we are or how dumb of a decision we just made. They’re the ones we can go to when our romantic relationships don’t go our way. At least in this moment, there are the ones I can’t imagine living without.

And what’s the cliché thing to say when a romantic relationship is going well? “I’m so lucky to have ended up with my best friend.” Friendship deserves the glory. 

The deepest friendships are deeper than the deepest romances, and the deepest romances just happen to rely on the deepest friendships. So in a week otherwise marked by commercialized displays of romance and sex, here’s to the platonic soulmates. Thank you for being the reason why I’m only single and not single and alone. I hope we are still on for cheap chocolate day on Monday.