Nicole Richards
Maid of Honor, Best Friend of Bride
LMHC/Clinician at Spectrum Health
I met Nicole in first grade. She was the new student, and I was the stubborn and bossy girl who always welcomed new students by introducing myself and informing them they were now my best friend. Nicole was the first person to take me seriously, and we've been best friends ever since.
Growing up, we were two admittedly weird kids who spent the majority of our time
alone together, creating elaborate worlds and backstories for our playmobile toys/ Barbies/ beanie babies. Teachers would grow frustrated with our lack of attention towards anything but each other, and then eventually give up and send us to a corner of the room to read on our own. The fact that we were both good students at the top of our class probably earned us a lot of leniency.
Lest you start thinking we're some odd set of identical twins attached at the hip, we actually went to both high school and college in separate countries. While I stayed in Vermont and then eventually moved to Boston, Nicole went to school in Quebec and then Ontario, Canada before eventually coming to Boston. In those 9 years apart we grew as independent people but also stronger as friends. I figure if we can stay close after that, nothing will ever come between us.
I spend the majority of my time in life talking with Nicole. We email and chat while we're both at work. We text each other when we're out and about, and we start to get edgy if we haven't seen each other for a few days. When I have a problem, exciting news, or need advice, I run things by her.
We laugh together, we cry together, we sit in yoga pants eating Ben & Jerry's watching bad movies together (and oh have we seen some bad movies).
For as close as we are and as much time as we've spent together, we couldn't be more different in most ways. I am pragmatic, logical and stubborn. Nicole is optimistic, idealistic and flexible. I work in a corporate office doing a math heavy job. She's a therapist working with addicts to improve their lives. Somehow we work well together. She makes me more adventurous, helps me to see the world in brighter colors, and makes me strive to be a better person.
Nicole was the first person to tell me she thought Tom and I would make a great couple and that I should go after him (and then continued to tell me this). She is my person and I couldn't imagine life without her. There's no way I would ever get married without her standing up beside me.
