Readers describe their best friends forever

BFF -- Best friends (or friend) forever; a close friend, one's best friend. Freq. in (representations of) the adolescent girls.
-- A new Oxford English Dictionary entry for 2011

It seems the term BFF has been around, well, forever, though it became an official OED entry only this year. Jesse Sheidlower, OED's Editor at Large in Manhattan, says that during the past couple of years, BFF has become "overwhelmingly common in a broader context, so we thought it was time to put it in the dictionary."

While the abbreviation may have been coined by younger generations, even best buds of a certain age strongly identify with its meaning. We asked Act 2 readers to write about their BFFs. Their stories, edited for length, are testament that some friendships really do last forever.

Friends who hear with their hearts 

I am especially blessed to have three best friends.

Helen, whom I met when I was 18, is my longest and dearest friend. We tried out for our company's softball team. I played second base. Helen played shortstop. We are now in our 50s and we have been a team ever since.

I met Tricia after I moved to Long Island. She lived a few houses down and also became my best friend. We have since moved away from each other, but our friendship has never changed.

My third best friend is Denise, my vacation buddy. I met Denise when our daughters started kindergarten. They are now 29 and also are best friends.

These friends mean so much to me. They listen with their hearts. I only have to say hello, and they know if something is wrong. They're the first people I call with good news and the first I need to comfort me when the news is bad.

My best friends have filled my life with the most joyous memories. I am blessed to have them in my life. Helen, Tricia and Denise -- I love you all. -- Liz Farrell, Lynbrook

Opposites who clicked 

I met my BFF on the first day of college freshman orientation. We were polar opposites. I was 5-foot-3, Bonnie was 5-foot-11. I had dark hair; hers was blond. My parents were first generation Sicilian-American; hers were from Atlanta. I was Catholic. Bonnie was Baptist.

We did have a few things in common though. We were both Queens girls. We were both the oldest child: I had a younger brother, she had two brothers and a sister. We became fast friends.

We attended Hunter College and spent our free time exploring Manhattan and going to the plays, lectures and poetry readings required by our professors. We both became teachers and student-taught in the same class. Our parents, too, became good friends.

Teaching jobs were nonexistent in the city in 1971, so we took positions upstate and got an apartment together. We were the perfect duo. Bonnie was outgoing, while I was the shy type. After a year, I went home to Corona and Bonnie stayed upstate, where she met Tom and fell in love. They got married and moved into her parents' home, and when he completed his training as a stockbroker, they moved to California. I cried for weeks.

Two years later I met and married Frank, the love of my life. Bonnie and I have remained close through letters, emails and phone calls. We've been best pals for more than 40 years and look forward to being there for each other for the next 40!
--Theresa Prudente, Northport

Growing up together 

Lori, Eileen, Paul and my brother Bruce all were neighbors growing up across the street from each other. We met when I was 5, when times were simple and friends were golden.

We spent every day together riding bikes, making snow forts, going to the movies and to Islip Speedway. Lori's mom and dad were my second parents and their family, my extended family. I wouldn't give up my childhood for the world.

As we grew older, we made new friends in the neighborhood. Henry, Lew, Maria, Debbie, Cissy, Brian, Greg, Chucky, Joann, Lenny and Ricky (now deceased). We did everything together. The boys had a band called the Ruland Gang. We would all meet on Saturday at 8 a.m. and head to Smith's Point Beach and scream to hear the echo in the tunnel.

Bruce dated Cissy. I dated Lew. Lori dated Henry. Paul dated Maria. Eileen dated Lenny. We still see each other and have reunions every so often.

Lori and Henry met in their teens and are married more than 30 years. The same goes for Maria and Paul. I met Lew when I was 14, married in 1978 and are still together. He's my best friend.

We went to each other's weddings, watched our children grow, and still love each other very much. Our bond is forever and our love for each other will last a lifetime. We're older, wiser, grayer, balding but when we all get together, we're teenagers again.
--Rhonda Sayre, Selden

College classmates 

It was our first week at Suffolk Community College in September, 1970. Barbara smiled and shyly said hello. We were in some of the same classes. She was a sweet, quiet girl and wore a pastel outfit. I thought she'd be much too conservative. We walked to our next class together and another girl came over to chat. Cheryl had long dark, wild, curly hair and wore colorfully patched jeans. Barbara and I both thought she was probably too wild to be friends with her.

We aren't sure how it happened, but our friendship blossomed. We graduated, started jobs, married, had children and were there for each other through it all. We became godparents to each other's children and are more like family than friends.

I always refer to them as my "other sisters" and we are "aunt" and "uncle" their kids. Even our moms, now in their 80s, enjoyed each other's company.

In the summer, Barbara and Chip, Cheryl and Joe, and John and I would go to trendy restaurants. Around the holidays, we would dine at some of Long Island's best places. Every year, we celebrated our birthdays together.

In July 2007, Barbara passed away suddenly from an aneurysm. After 37 years of friendship, it was devastating. So many tried to console us, but what meant the most was how people told me I was so lucky to have such a good friend for so long. Many people never experience a friendship like ours. I think of Barbara every day and miss her very much.

I think the reason our friendship was so strong was because we truly cared about each other and each other's family. We were never competitive or envious -- we were truly happy for each other in good times, and brokenhearted in bad times.

Barbara, Cheryl and Donna -- we all seemed so different when we first met, but there was something that kept us together. They, and their families, will always be my, and my family's treasured friends.
--Donna Massaro, Commack