Living at Home in Your Late Twenties Part Six: Playing the Single Friend in Movies

As I sit and wake up this morning I realize, and not in a sad way (well I hope not).  I have been living in a house with people in relationships lately.  There is my mom and dad of course, and then there is my sister who has been dating her new boyfriend for the last six months.  They are a cute new couple falling asleep on the living room floor and couch cuddling together. But, when you are surrounded by couples all the time and you are a single I can't help but wonder how to fit into things.  They all do things together, it kinda is a real bummer.

Moving back home has been different.  Different because I am used to being surrounded by friends for the last two years who I could call up and they were literally minutes away and could do things with me.  Most of my friends in Albany are gone.  I have enjoyed doing this writing because it has helped me express myself.

While I was thinking about being the single one in the house this morning, I thought about the two different  roles the single person plays in movies: one is the spinster, and well I am not old enough to be that nor will I ever embrace that lifestyle, and the second is the sassy person who always give the great advice and and is full of with.  These are all female best friends, the equivalent to a male best friend is nothing I ever related to in movies.  I will put out a disclaimer, I do not play the role of the gay best friend everyone want (in a typical way) I am my own person.

If I were to pick one person who plays the best friend well in movies I would want to be Judy Greer.  You may not know who Judy Greer is on name alone, but she is one of the funniest women working today who always takes on the role of the best friend in Hollywood films; she of course played other roles but she traps lightening in a bottle when she helps giving that sassy advice.  Judy's filmography includes 27 Dresses, The Wedding Planner, 13 Going on 30 and such a long laundry list I could keep going; she plays these roles so well.

Sometimes in life you feel like a supporting player, that what you do only is there because of other people, but you have take control of your own life and be lead.  I am going to borrow the words of the character Arthur Abbott in the film The Holiday (2006), and yes this is super corny, but he stated "Iris, in the movies we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you are behaving like the best friend."  Time to act like the leading lady in my life (queue laughter). 

Another reason for my melancholia could be that I have been watching Ally McBeal too much lately and it is time to turn off my Netflix and go outside and sit by my pool.  I think I will head out there now, and enjoy the sunshine.