Playing Favorites

The other day I heard someone ask, "Are you anyone's favorite person?" Actually, it was asked by a vlogger named mememolly¹, and until that moment, I did not get her name. Now, I understand her name, and I have been thinking about the question.

Other than my spouse (I think that is a bit of cheating, and parents ["We love each of you the same amount, and none of you is our favorite"²]), I am not sure I am anybody's favorite. In the past, I have been others' favorite – and at times, I have been lucky enough to have been more than someone's favorite at one time. And that feeling was pretty terrific.

I remember in primary school³ that being someone's favorite or having a favorite was a big deal. Each week, there was drama concerning, "Molly is my best friend, now" or "Molly is in the doghouse. Jenny is my best friend now." "Hey, Laura, you can't speak to Jan. We aren't her friends any more."

Okay, guys may not relate to this, but for girls, this was a big part of growing up. Actually, I think guys sort of have the right idea. They don't sign up for all of this drama. After one guy disappoints another guy, they don't stop being friends forever. They just punch each other on the arm, and say, "We're cool, huh?"

I guess this is "the grass is greener" syndrome.

I guess when I was younger, I needed to be somebody's favorite. Now, not so much. When I was younger, I loved fish stick. Now, not so much.

Ramen
Someone the other day thought it necessary to define Ramen for me. I mean, when I was in college, I lived off of Ramen for a year. You could buy it in Styrofoam cups, and it cost like ten cents per cup on sale. Normal price may have been, okay, I don't know what normal price was. I bought everything on sale.

Thing was, you could have a cup of it almost anytime since all you needed was hot water. And I was always in hot water in college. No, that's not what I meant. I can remember coming home from clubbing, and sometimes we would be so hungry – especially towards the end of the month, when no one had any money. And we would sit around eating Ramen.

You know, now I would rather be like Ramen – always there when someone needed me – than somebody's favorite. I am strange, that way.

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¹A meme can be described as "an idea, project, statement or even a question that is posted by one blog and responded to by other blogs. Although the term encompasses much of the natural flow of communication in the Blogosphere, there are active bloggers and blog sites that are dedicated to the creation of memes on a regular basis"

²Have you heard this from a parent, and then thought, "Hey, Jennifer is your favorite, you know, she got that really cute dress."? Well, I don't have a sister named Jennifer, so I have not thought that, but you know what I mean. Actually, my parents were pretty great about not playing favorites.

³Don't I sound a bit English with that statement?