A friend story: I met Alina back in 2016, on a Jetblue flight from NYC back to LA. One of those massive Summer storms was moving in, so the plane taxied out and returned to the gate like four times before it actually took off, 5 hours late. Naturally everyone on the plane, including myself, was having our lack of control over time and space heavy sigh tantrums, myself especially because I was supposed to report to the writer’s room for This is Us for the first time the very next day. Alina and I were seated next to each other, each having our own separate freak outs. At a certain point, we turned to each other, strangers with gently touching arms, and decided to freak out TOGETHER, and laugh about it. We learned soon that we were so very different and so very the same. Alina had just gotten married, while I was about to do so. Our husbands are handsome gentle artists, we are insane multitaskers with whirling brains. Alina works in advertising, creating ads that pop up in the pauses in the shows I write for. She’s Armenian, I’m German European sugar cookie dough, and we both love to bake. Five years later, she still is one of my favorite people in LA. Our husbands record together. But the most striking thing: our journey to becoming Mothers has been sadly, but also sort of beautifully, very the same. At one point a few years back I literally texted her and said, I can’t have dinner Thursday, I just had another miscarriage and she replied, Same. But thankfully, it ultimately worked out for both of us, and we each finally had a baby, three months apart. Alina now texts me every now and then, friend, we did it. We were all finally able to meet this weekend, outside and safe. Joe and Sebastian were amenable to the friendship forced upon them by their Mothers, who will surely know each other for Forever. And so: Forever friends are secretly hiding all around you. Instead of freaking out: TURN TO THEM.
