Well, this is a new venture, yet one I couldn’t be more
excited about!!
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| Tweedledee & Tweedledum |
It all started about 25 years ago, while in junior high I
met Jess, my lifetime best friend.
Now, here’s where I
am supposed to tell you the amazing encounter of how we met and how I knew we’d
be friends forever… that I can’t do, unless I made up a cheesy story, which I
am not very good at. What I am fairly good at is the truth, so here goes.
Jess and I hung out with some of the same friends,
specifically some of the same boys. While doing who knows what after school one
day, Jess said ‘you should come over to my house” I said, “alright”. That was the start…
I was in 9th grade, and
Jess, who’s 15 months younger than me, was in 8th grade. She hung
out with an older boy who lived down the street from her, and one day
introduced me to him. He asked me out and we began dating. He also hung out
with the guy she was dating which meant we began to spend a lot of time
together. A few months later, we got into our first real and only big fight.
She was mad at me for well, messing around with her boyfriend (only time ever)
and she claimed she was going to beat me up. We didn’t talk for about a month,
but then when we did, I am sure I apologized, and we made up and regained our
friendship. In case you are wondering… no, she didn’t follow through on beating
me up. By the way Jess, I do still feel awful about that whole escapade with
Eric, ugh…I am still sorry! (So, we didn’t physically fight that time, but I
can tell you that many times after that, when we did, never in anger of course,
I ALWAYS had the upper hand!!, more stories to come)
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| With our other Soul Sisters. |
One of the things that sticks out
about our friendship when I look back is that we have had A LOT of
commonalities in life. I don’t know if
we got to be such close friends because we had so much in common, or if we led
such parallel lives because we were best friends. Here are some that I can
think of…
We both struggled a bit with school
as teenagers, not because we weren’t smart, but because we didn’t really care
about it. We cared about rebelling, music and boys, pretty much that’s it.
Then, while in high school, we both became mothers for the first time. Neither were “planned”, yet both were fully
loved and well cared for. We both attended an alternative High School at that
time and both began to really succeed in school academically and as leaders
with our peers. We began to flourish and see exciting futures for ourselves,
thanks to a lot of encouragement from some amazing teachers who pushed us. I
graduated first and was awarded an academic scholarship from our high school. I
started college at the local community college while Jess was finishing up her
senior year. She was allowed to do PSEO at the College that I was also
attending. Our children were in a home daycare together close to where we
lived. When Jess graduated, I was the alumni asked to speak at her graduation, it was a day
special to both of us that I am so glad we got to share.
As our kids grew older, we
continued to spend time together. We are Godparents to the others children. Our
kids to this day, even grown, call us Auntie and refer to each other as
cousins. I don’t know why we decided to do that, it just seemed right. We both
are the oldest with one little sister. Jess’ sister is 6 years younger than her
and my sister is 12 years younger than me. We just kind of thought of each
other more as sisters than friends.
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| My wedding day with my BFF. |
Years passed, we both graduated
college with the other there for support and encouragement. We both got
married, and had more kids. She was my maid of honor and a few years later, I
was hers. We were physically present at the births of the others children,
coaching, supporting and video-taping. (Watch our blog for funny stories about
that!)
We have always been on emergency
contact lists and authorized to pick up the others kids at school. Thinking
back it feels like this is how it was supposed to be and how it’s always been.
I don’t feel like I “chose” her to be my best friend, or vice versa. Our
parents and siblings have accepted the fact that we will always be at the
others important events, parties, etc. and they accept us, and we love them.
(Though they didn’t always…again, stories for another day)
When my son was in 10th
grade, he decided he wanted to change schools prior to our move and so he stayed
with Jess a few days a week for close to 6 months. He even had his own room…
and I am sure I still owe her for that, he was not an easy kid!! I have picked
her kids up from school, visited them at hospitals, and rocked and sang to them
when she needed a break from a colicky one. That’s what sisters do, right.
We now as somewhat more mature
friends, have helped each other through so much; a divorce, the loss of our
grandparents, and most recently, her dad. That was a rough one. We have prayed
and cried with each other while dealing with the effects of addiction and
mental health issues of close family members.
Jessica is a successful woman in
her own right, an amazing single mother of four, the director of a non-profit
business that impacts her own community and she also volunteers as a co-leader
of a recovery group at our church, where she specializes in co-dependency. I am
blessed to call her my BFF, my soul sister.
I have been self employed for the
past 15 years as a personal financial rep, helping families reach their goals
of debt freedom and financial independence. I also train, develop and coach a
number of agents who work directly with me. I have been happily married for 15
years and am a proud mother of three beautiful kids. My passions are writing,
public speaking and inspiring others to fulfill their dreams.
We have chosen to embark on this
venture we call Soul Sisters for many reasons.
We believe strongly in female
friendships. Our friendship has blessed our lives and our family’s lives insurmountably.
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| Our oldest daughters. |
We have been told numerous times by many
different women that they envy our friendship and wish they had kept contact
with their girlfriends. We have been told by many women that they have trust
issues with other women, they have been burned and are afraid of being hurt
again. Women who have gotten so caught up in being great wives and moms that
when their kids grow up, they feel they have a void in their life. Many women
don’t know how to make new friends as adults and think their time has passed to
be able to have a best friend. We have been told by our daughters, who at 23
and 21 are best friends that they have learned about friendship from us. (They
will be telling their story, please watch for it, they’re amazing!)
Our mission is to create a movement
to inspire women to reach out and make new friends while also placing priority
on older, lifelong friendships. We will, through many sources of social media,
(and eventually a book) inspire you by sharing varied stories of female
friendships. We will provide you with ideas to meet new friends, things to do
while “courting” new friends, ways to mend broken friendships, and how to
rebuild friendships with someone you haven’t talked to in a while but still
want in your life.
We will make you laugh with our
“rules of BFF’s” and “You might be best-friends when…”, and we may
(unintentionally, of course) make you cry with the touching stories that are
being submitted to our sites and from interviews we are doing as we speak. If
you would like to be a part of the movement, if you have a story to share, a
picture to post or a question to ask, please message us on or Facebook site at www.facebook.com/2SoulSisters
Thank you and be blessedJ
Angelika “Geli” Ulku
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| 25 years of friendship. |
