Paris and Magz

I have a confession to make: I have an addiction. Since the age of fourteen, I have been (and probably always will be) a closet New Kids on the Block fan. Yes, I have a major thing for the five guys from Boston and I am more than overjoyed that they have gotten back together. Okay, maybe the music is heavy in the cheese department but it's catchy, easy to dance to and, like fine wine, the eye candy has only gotten more refined over the years, if you know what I mean (wink wink).

I have to admit that when I saw NKTOB on the Today show a few days ago, I was a tad bit nostalgic. Their music is connected to so many memories from my early teen age years. More than that, I have New Kids on the Block to thank for the friendship that has defined my life.

Her name is Kandy or Kandace, but for years she was Paris. As with everything else in those years, the name was given to her by a boy (I think his name was Mike) and I'm sure he doesn't even know that he did it. The exact series of events are a little foggy these days but what I still remember is that Kandy had this barrette with clocks on it and she was wearing it one day at Our Lady of Impending Death. Mike (that's what I'm remembering so that's what I'm calling him) walked up to her and touched a spot on the middle clock that said "Paris." Then, he says, "Paris. Is that your name? Paris?" and walks off. Well, you're fourteen and a hot older guy calls you something, then hell yeah, that's your name.

So, for many years after that moment, she became Paris. For reasons just as complicated and not related to this train of thought, I became Magz. And, because of a series of long bus rides home from basketball games in the middle of the night where we shared a pair of head phones and the Hangin Tough CD, we became VERY BIG New Kids on the Block fans. More than that, we became Paris and Magz, BFF.

I'd say for a good solid two years, Paris and I would spend sleepless nights just talking and listening to NKTOB. Sometimes it would be in my room which was plastered with Joe Mc Intyre pictures. Sometimes we would be in her room which was usually an homage to Donnie Wahlberg but every once in a while was a shrine to one of the Knight brothers. When we weren't together, we were on the phone. When I was alone, I felt like a piece of me was missing.

Though the depth of our friendship is dierectly linked to pop music, it evolved into so much more. Kandy became my secret keeper and I'd like to think that I was hers too. We talked about boys (the Langan brothers) and when we had to listen to a third friend tell us in great detail about how she kissed my first real crush in his Geo Metro while listening to "Ask Me" by the Smiths, I know she felt my pain. How could she not since I had felt hers in so many of the same situations.

I left Michigan in the tenth grade and moved to West Virginia. The hardest part of leaving was saying good bye to Kandy. She made me a big sign that said "Magz and Paris BFF's" and some other things that I cannot write here. It was covered with pictures of us and of our boys. It hung on my wall for years and I still have it. During those first few years, I also had a huge phone bill because I would talk to her at least three or four times a week.

After high school, Kandy moved to North Carolina for college and we still talked almost every day. Later on, she was maid of honor in my wedding and I helped her pick out the dress for her own. I also cried on the phone when she told me she eloped because I really wanted to be there.

Today, Kandy is the mother of a daughter named Jordyn. She swears up and down that the girl is not named after Jordan Knight but I have my doubts. Later on this month she will have another daughter and though she says her name will be Carly, I'm thinking that there will be a last minute change to Donnie. (DON'T DO IT, KANDY!).

Since both of us are busy with careers, husbands and children, the phone calls have all but ended. We rely heavy on email but even that is few and far between. It doesn't matter though because I know that our friendship has spanned almost twenty years now and it won't end. If I needed anything, I know that I could call her up and it would happen. I hope she knows the same thing.

On that Today Show appearance, Matt Lauer asked Donnie how it felt to reconnect with his bandmates. Donnie said something to the fact that it wasn't hard. He said that what was interesting was that many friends were reconnecting because of their music. I had to smile because I knew what he was talking about.

Even though we've grown up, somewhere there will always be a Paris and Magz. I like it that way.