A Galentine’s Day Love Letter to Old Friends (and Mary J. Blige)
In addition to this past Sunday being Super Bowl Sunday, it was also Galentine’s Day.
“What is Galentine’s Day, you ask? Oh, it’s only the best day of the year. … Ladies celebrating ladies.” – Leslie Knope, Parks and Recreation.
While I didn’t have a team in the Super Bowl this year (go Pats!), I did have a major interest in catching the Super Bowl halftime show featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent (surprise!), and the incomparable Mary J. Blige. Yes, I am a Gen Xer. These artists created the soundtrack to some of my best memories – those with my roommates and friends during our early 20s.
A wave of nostalgia swept over our group like the scent of CK One at our favorite club on a Thursday night in the late 90s. We flashed back to those evenings in our house with 5 roommates and 1.5 bathrooms—music blasting, as we swapped wardrobe items, fixed makeup, and debated about whether we could leave the house without a coat. The group chat was hyped about the show, as we were posting memes and joking about how we thought we could still get down (but maybe not get back up again…) to these anthems of our youth.
The world has changed since those days of our youth, and so have we. We have gone on to a variety of careers, moved to different states, and grown up (more or less). Some are married, some divorced, some single. Some of us are parents. Some of us lost parents. We are not the same people we were when fate and college brought us together.
But through it all, we remain connected. Those connections stretched and flexed over the years. When the pandemic took hold, we turned to each other. They helped carry me through my father’s terminal illness. We celebrated Zoom birthdays and new jobs. We were compassionate ears and hard truth tellers.
Turns out we were not alone in leaning on our old friends to help us through difficult times. Research shows that psychological distress can cause nostalgia, which can increase “positive mood, self-esteem, and self-confidence.” It is no surprise that the Super Bowl halftime show sparked joy in us and so many other Gen Xers and Elder Millennials.
So if you need a mood boost, make time to enjoy that nostalgia. Reach out to those old friends that know and love you for all that you are and have watched your journey unfold. Find those old mix CD’s and turn them into playlists. Have a dance party. In the immortal words of Mary J. Blige:
Come on baby, just party with me
Let loose and set your body free
Leave your situations at the door
So when you step inside jump on the floor
Even if just for a short time. The situations will be there when you get back, but maybe you will be more prepared to deal with them.
And to my old friends, I am forever grateful for your friendship.
