On Trust

I love "Friends". I am devastated that the show has ended.

I love it for a lot of reasons. Primarily though, that group of friends started on that show at the same exact age that I was at that time. So I kind of feel like I grew into the adult that I am WITH them. I identify with all of them.

I am really a conglomerate of Monica and Rachel. But more to the point, my personality tends to be more Rachel than anyone else on that show.

The qualities that make up these two fictitious characters ( did I mentiont that I know they aren't real???) that apply to me are too many to name but the percentage quite clearly leans me over to the Rachel side. And It would have been nice if I could have some of her looks too..... but I digress.....

This show has a theme in it that strikes me in every sitcom that I watch it. For as long as I can remember. It was present in Wings, present in Friends, The Nanny..... Two people who are friends and are working their way toward one other as destiny plays a sick game with the two.... Joe and Helen from Wings, Fran and Mr. Sheffield from the Nanny and Ross and Rachel from Friends. There are more shows with this that I could name, but these are the first three that pop into my head.

Years ago, when I was an avid watcher of Wings..... I miss that show a lot.... I was in my 20's. I really liked him more than he liked me though. I was way too young. And he was older. But nonetheless, I identified with Crystal Bernard when she and Joe broke up for the millioneth time it seemed when he and I split up around the same time.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise that I continue to watch the syndicated re-runs of Friends as often as I do. I am living parts of Monica's life and more to the point - parts of Rachel's. And not the baby part!!!!

The recurring storyline of Rachel is perpetually annoying to me AND intriguing to me.

She is a trusting woman. She trusts that Monica will take her in and care for her when she leaves her fiance at the alter. THough she didn't even invite Monica to the wedding. She trusts Monica's friends to help her through getting a job and getting out from her family's thumb.

She trusts these people with everything.... including her life, her career, her health, her families health, her baby. She never lost the ability to trust even when Ross sleeps with the copy girl "while they were on a break".

Bringing me to the conclusion here, she trusted him through thick and through thin. Through his myriad marriages including to her. Even when she was angry with him, even when his new wife wouldn't allow him to see or speak to her - she trusted him and she did the right things by him.

Again, I realize that these are fictitious characters, but they are modeled after real people. Or several real people.

In my circle of friends, I am the Rachel.