Life Lessons: Friendship Knows No Age

I am so lucky to have a select group of people in which I am extremely close to. The real deal, true friends. Freshman year, I made so many new, wonderful and fun friends, but they weren't necessarily BFF material. I have always been a fan of the adage that a few close friends are more valuable than several shallow friendships.

Corinne and I often get asked how we met. We wish there was some amazing, novel-worthy story...but we met at work. Shortly after starting in June 2012, I decided I needed to start making friends, so I went up to her and started talking about Beyoncé . (When in doubt, always talk about Beyoncé.) She was so sweet to just nod her head, laugh at appropriate times and follow-up with questions.

In the following months, Corinne would bring me "chofee," as I like to call it, or, as the rest of the world knows it, mocha. She always knew when I needed a pick me up and would deliver the caffeine. By lunchtime, I would start to get hungry and she would always bring me the yummiest treats from her bag, or have the kitchen staff whip me up a little snack. Really, from the moment I got to work at 8 AM, she was in my department asking me what I needed and what she could bring to me. From the start, she has been so selfless and giving, which I realized quickly is just in her nature.

Over that summer, we laughed at the smallest of things and had inside jokes as if we were in middle school all over again. Not much has changed since then. We have a few decades between us in age, but that has never stopped us from acting like we've known each other forever. Corinne's 18 year old son Nathan asked her the other day, "Do Emily's parents know that, because of her age, she should really be friends with me?" But, that's the best thing about our friendship. We meet somewhere in the middle of my 20-something years and her 40-something years and bring all of our experiences together to create this amazing thing that is our friendship.

I am truly lucky to have become such great friends with Corinne over the last two years. She gives the best advice: a mixture of motherly and friendly. She is always brightening up my day with some encouraging text message or a quick email. Corinne brings the sun out on the rainiest of days. Another one of the great parts of having a friend who is further ahead in life is that she also brings an amazing family with her. Her husband Bob is hilarious and one of the best chefs I know. I can't even begin to count the number of times I have gone to the Cargnoni household for a business meeting, and there is Bob grilling up something delicious and pouring the wine. With two amazing people as parents, it is pretty obvious that all three kids are so full of love, talent, sass and humor.

We came up with this thing that between the two of us, Corinne and I share 72 years of wisdom. Which is simply how we rationalize some of our silly antics. Corinne is 100% an "ask and you shall receive" kind of person. Driving home from Arkansas, I could not stop talking about how badly I wanted an egg roll. Such a random craving, but sure enough, we stop in Dallas at Lover's Egg Roll and eat them in the car as it gets dark.

I wish there were enough hours in the day or words in the dictionary to describe my love and gratitude for Corinne. While the lesson I learned is that friendship knows no age, she herself has taught me: to be brave, to not care what others think, to stand up for myself, to not own other people's problems, to just love people when there is nothing else to give, and so much more. So, that is my greatest lesson from college. You never know who you will meet, how old/young they will be, or how much they will impact your life. But when you meet them, you will have a friend for life.

Rooftop Margaritas, Fayetteville 2014

Cheers to Corinne and her sweet family for all of the gifts they have showered me with over the last two years, but more importantly, for being the greatest gift of all.