The United Nations

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words." 

Top: Morgan (CBI);
Middle: Me (USSR), Alyssa (UK);
Bottom: Melissa (Red China), Liz (USA), Emily (Free France)

Having written a previous blog post about my best friend, Alyssa, I was inspired to write another blog post about our group of friends from high school formally known as the "United Nations." 


The United Nations was officially formed on June 12th, 2008. We'd all been friends for a while; Melissa, Morgan, Emily, and Alyssa had gone to school together since kindergarten, Liz since 8th grade. We played on various sports teams together; Liz, Morgan, Emily, and Alyssa all played soccer, Melissa and I ran Cross-country, Liz, Melissa, Morgan, Alyssa, and I all participated in Indoor Track and were joined by Emily for Outdoor Track. The night of June 12th, we were giddy from having come from a party in my barn celebrating the end of the school year (there were boys at the party, too! OH M GEE!), and gathered around my kitchen  table to eat the cheesecake my grandma had made for us. Being the nerds we are, we somehow decided that we needed a group name (I believe we also decided we needed a hierarchy to control Liz... like that ever worked...) and landed on the UN! Each girl choose her own country based on the original UN formed after World War II (we ended up running out of countries so Morgan, being the gracious, unselfish being she is, ended up with a war front, not an actual country). Each country was supposed to represent something about ourselves. Since Liz's dad is in the Army she immediately stole USA (which is ironic because she wasn't even born in the United States...). Alyssa scooped up second-in-command the United Kingdom, Emily took Free France while Melissa was told she was Red China and I was assigned the Soviet Union. Not being able to think of any other countries, Morgan was assigned CBI. And from that moment on, we weren't merely six best friends but a single entity. No one referred to us by our first names anymore in school and it was always assumed that if one girl was invited to a party, the rest of the girls would also be in attendance.


Together the UN accomplished many great things: we helped win the Vermont Div II Outdoor Track state title four years in a row and were "Runners Up" to Essex four years in a row in Indoor Track, five of us made the National Honor Society, we were voted "Best Friends" in our high school yearbook (contrary to popular belief, though I was editor I DID NOT mess with the votes), and just helped make our high school a better place in general. I would even go so far as to say we were some of the most involved people in our class, if not the most involved. Sure, we had our struggles, fights, and hard times, but we made it through together and supported each other every step of  the way.

Graduation 2010 - We did it!

College Road Trip!
(I saw this in another blog and was inspired to create my own!)

Now that we're in college, things have become a little bit more difficult. We're separated by 400 miles total (I'm the farthest north, Alyssa's the farthest south) with different semester plans (Melissa and Morgan are on the trimester system, the rest of us are on the two semester system), and different vacations schedules and different work schedules (Alyssa is living and working in NYC for the second year in a row). It's been tough going and out friendship is a lot different from how it started three years ago, but I know no matter what happens or where we are in life, these five extraordinary girls will be there for me no matter what, just like I'll always be there for them. <3


THE NATIONS

Name: Elizabeth Nicole Alexander
Nickname: Liz, USA
DOB: August 1
College: Norwich University
Major: Psychology

Name: Alyssa Jean Dempsey
Nickname: Danger, UK
DOB: June 16
College: New York University
Major: Anthropology, Minors: Music Business, Spanish

Name: Emily Jane McIntyre
Nickname: Em, Free France
DOB: November 6
College: West Point
Major: Undecided
Sport: Track and Field - Sprints

Name: Melissa Ellen Childs
Nickname: Missy, LoLo, Red China
DOB: May 30
College: Middlebury College
Major: Undecided
Sport: Track and Field - Pole-vault

Name: Morgan Patricia Childs
Nickname: Mo, CBI
DOB: May 30
College: Middlebury College
Major: Undecided
Sport: Track and Field - Sprints

Name: Megan Mary Irons
Nickname: Margo, Bangs, USSR
DOB: January 1
College: Saint Michael's College
Major: Anthropology/Sociology; Minor: Classics

"Make new friends and keep the old, one is silver and the other gold"