How Lifelong Female Friendship Survives Everything | Mandi & Billie's Bestiemony Story

0:00 SPEAKER_04: Hey there, I'm Jennifer, and I'm Jackie. And welcome to Slightly Unsupervised. We're best friends, business partners, and the chaos behind bestimony, a ceremony we created to celebrate the kind of soulmates who don't come with a marriage license. This podcast is all about that friendship energy: the deep stuff, the messy stuff, and the laugh till you snort stuff. So whether you're driving, folding laundry, or hiding in your car for some peace and quiet, if you're in good company, let's get slightly unsupervised.

0:22 SPEAKER_04: Well, today we are here with Mandy and Billy. So welcome back to Slightly Unsupervised. Many of you have heard us talk about Mandy and Billy. They did the Bestimony with us in Nashville. And I'm so thankful for both of them. Their story is on our Bestimonies YouTube channel. It's YouTube Bestimonies, if you look it up. They're on there. They have an amazing story. They met up as little girls. They grew up together and they've walked through almost every chapter of lives side by side. If you haven't watched The Bestimony yet, I encourage you to do so because we're only going to briefly touch on their story today, and it's worth watching.

0:55 SPEAKER_04: Today isn't about where friendship began. It's about where friendship can teach the rest of us. Jackie and I believe something that's at the heart of every bestimony. Women are taught to date, we're taught to be wives, and we're taught to be mothers. But almost no one teaches us how to build and protect a lifelong friendship. Maybe that's one of the greatest lessons we've forgotten. I watched your video this morning, girls, and these are what you said about each other that makes a best friend. A best friend is a built-in sister, someone who protects your heart, someone who always reminds you of your worth, someone who walks beside you through every season of life, someone who loves you at your absolute lowest, someone who becomes one of the greatest love stories of your life.

1:34 SPEAKER_04: I just want you to give us a short version of how you two girls became lifelong friends.

1:39 SPEAKER_02: It is constantly being present and just living together like every season of life. You just show up, you wake up, you show up, whatever that looks like in that season of life, you go to bed, you wake up, you do the same thing. That's how it's cultivated.

1:54 SPEAKER_00: And we didn't always like we had disagreements and we had months where we did not speak, but we always came back together. We always felt pulled to each other. And so we don't always agree, but we're always pulled back to each other.

2:13 SPEAKER_04: Yes. Right. The love is stronger than the disagreement. Correct. The disagreement may be hot for a week, and then you're like, I need to call her because I need to talk to her about something when we'll just get past that. I don't even know if we even talk about the problem that we have. We know it's there, but we just move on. Right.

2:29 SPEAKER_00: We live an hour away from each other. We see each other typically maybe once a year. We talk every day.

2:38 SPEAKER_02: Like every time we would not be able to, like, we wouldn't speak for whatever period of time it was. What I end up finding is there's something that's going on in my life, and I just can't imagine not having her experience it with me. I would rather like not, like it just means more to me to have her present in every every aspect of my life.

2:57 SPEAKER_00: When her grandmother was dying, we weren't speaking and we hadn't spoken in months.

3:01 SPEAKER_02: Oh no. It was like two months.

3:03 SPEAKER_00: And she knew her grandmother was dying. So she called me because she knew where I held her grandparents.

3:11 SPEAKER_04: Right.

3:12 SPEAKER_00: And so I showed up that day.

3:14 SPEAKER_04: Oh, that's sweet.

3:16 SPEAKER_00: So you forget it. Yeah.

3:17 SPEAKER_04: It's easy to forget it when you fight with your best friend because all the history there is like, who cares about just little tiny fight? Right. Yep. That's that's how I feel too. Yeah. When someone watches your story and you have your bestimony on our um YouTube channel, I wish I had a friendship like that. Do you hear people say that all the time?

3:34 SPEAKER_00: All the time. Yeah. Like when people see it, they say, I watched the whole thing and it's beautiful. And I cried. And like people always tell me, I wish I had a friend for that long.

3:49 SPEAKER_04: Right.

3:49 SPEAKER_00: Like it's genuine.

3:51 SPEAKER_04: Right. Yeah. And you know, I know you we were just talking about before we started podcasting that you have a lot of people that have watched yours and said to you that it what a meaningful experience that must have been. That it's just there's nowhere to do that, right? That you girls had the opportunity to come. And I got so many responses. It went viral. And you must have been one of the first nine or ten people that responded to it because that's how you ended up on it. Because I just I pushed my phone away.

4:17 SPEAKER_04: Overwhelming. Yeah, it was overwhelming. I could see the comments as I was. Yeah. So you and it was in Nashville, which is interesting because you don't live in Nashville. You live in Pennsylvania. It's a 12-hour drive.

4:28 SPEAKER_02: So like six months prior to your post, because you did like end of January, because we came at the end of February. Right. Six months earlier, my husband and I came down for our 20th anniversary and I stayed in a Nashville visitors group. And that's where you had posted it. And I am still in it and I see things come up, but like I was like, oh, this cool. And it was super impulsive because I was just like, sure, whatever. And and then I sent her screenshots and like, so I did this. You're like, by the way, I've applied for us to do a docus.

4:59 SPEAKER_04: I think I put a docuseries on there, which yeah.

5:01 SPEAKER_00: And that's not her. She is not the impulsive one. I'm the impulsive one. She's the one that carefully calculates everything. Right. And it was complete opposite. And I was like, okay, well, hopefully we don't get murdered.

5:15 SPEAKER_04: Well, Billy did think I was going to murder her. She had to drive and bring her gun. And that was all sweet, but all the things. I know. I think you even checked up on one of the guys that owned Nash Rovers.

5:26 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm the one because he took my husband and I from the airport and like he was giving us all these recommendations. I'm like, yo, do you know Venus? And he's like, Oh, yes, we know her.

5:36 SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you're good. Yeah, he did. He told he tells me that I always recommend him. So you girls have been best friends. I'm sure that you have definitely inspired other people to maybe be closer to their girlfriends. Do you think that friendships like yours are just becoming more rare? Because Jackie and I just talked about this and we talked about bestie energy. I'll tell you our last podcast was about bestie energy. And we talked about I find it sometimes in the younger girls, but it's hard to find it in the older girls.

6:04 SPEAKER_04: And she goes, you know where it was really thick was at the best of money. Like it was a room full of women, and it was and normally when you have that many women together, I don't know if you think this too, but generally there's a competition. There's a lot of that's my best friend. It can get competitive in there, and it felt like love in there to me. It was like a lot of best friends loving their friends, and you going, Yeah, I love my best friend too, but it wasn't a competition. It was like a joining.

6:28 SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Well, so we live an hour away. She has friends that she interacts with every day. I have friends that I interact with every day. We interact with each other, but she'll put a post on Facebook and be like, My best friend, I don't get offended by it because I know where I stand with her. There is no competition. And I get women need women around each other to build them up and support them. Yeah.

6:58 SPEAKER_02: So you hear the phrase it takes a village. Yeah. So, you know, you're obviously, you know, you got four kids and you're busy, and you know, some days you're drowning in it, and you have a wonderful support network where you live. And that's the best thing like I could hope for for her because I'm not there. I'm not able to, you know, do pick up and do. So I'm glad that she has that. She knows her place. I think that a lot of people lack security or the feeling of security.

7:27 SPEAKER_00: I never have to question where I am with her or her with me. Like the history is if I'm not in a room and someone bad mouths me, she's gonna stand up for me. And you can't say that about a lot of friendships nowadays.

7:41 SPEAKER_04: Yeah, which is bad because we need each other. I don't think I don't know if you guys remember Jaime. Jaime did our filming. Yeah. Yes. And Jaime has moved on to Bunny XO. He is her full-time videographer. Wow. If you ever watch her, you'll see him in the background. Uh Jaime did that video for us, but she's going through, I don't know if you know what she is, she's jelly rolls wife. Yeah, yeah. But she's going through a divorce right now, or at least the starts of something, but she's leaning heavy into the girls that she's really good, best friends with, are going to move on the property with her and stuff.

8:10 SPEAKER_04: And I was thinking that in my head as like, that's a prime example of why women need women, is because when the shit falls apart around us, it's us that understands the other woman. It's yes, it's the emotions of it that we understand better.

8:23 SPEAKER_00: You have the fake friends that pretend to be friends, and then it turns into a competition. And we don't have that. Right. We don't have that. When her quote unquote best friends, where she lives, post something, I love it because I love that she has that support group. And and I don't question whether they're best friends. I know they're good friends, I know they're great friends, and I know if she needs something, they're gonna be there sooner than me because we're so far away. Right.

8:56 SPEAKER_04: Well, you guys are far away. We're joking or she's in California. Yeah, yeah, because yeah, but if something happens to me, I drop my wrist this year and she's like, uh, do you need me to get on a plane? I'm coming. I'm like, I don't need you to. You're okay, stay. I yeah, I'm gonna go to surgery. And I'm like, just hang tight. If I need you after the surgery, I'll let you know. But let me get through the surgery part. Yeah. Because that's her, that's just the reaction to it. It's like, let me get to you.

9:17 SPEAKER_04: And it's like, I got it. You're okay, you know. Yeah. But you appreciate it because it's the one person that you know that's gonna be like, I'm dropping everything, I'm heading your way. Correct.

9:28 SPEAKER_00: Every year for her birthday, we go. My husband and I go with her and her husband and the these other two couples for dinner. And I know how close they are and I appreciate them. Sure. Because I know they can be there within minutes. The roots are very deep with you too.

9:46 SPEAKER_04: Women, you know, hopefully we'll try to teach at least the younger generations as they're coming up that these are cemented in friendships and that you need them. They're gonna you're gonna survive some things with each other that yeah, you can't do with everybody else. So it leads me to my next point is that both of you have children. And do you think that what they what have they learned from your friendship, the two of you, for their own lives?

10:09 SPEAKER_00: So my oldest is 14, almost 15, and it's she's a girl. So that's huge because girls and boys are so different. And with any life lessons that her and I have discussed, I'm like, listen, Mandy and I, like, I give her examples of Mandy and I. And I'm like, we don't always see eye to eye, and that's okay. And her and her best friend are very different, also. Her and I, Mandy and I are very different. Yeah. But I'm like, you don't always have to love her decisions and what she's doing, you just have to love her in general, right?

10:52 SPEAKER_00: And vice versa. Like her and I, Mandy and I talk all the time, and she will say what she's feeling, and I'm like, well, and I will give my opinion, and she will do the same with me. And because we've been friends for so long, it like it holds stock there. Like, I'm like, okay, well, she's known me forever, so maybe I should listen to her opinion.

11:18 SPEAKER_02: I feel like it gives you like a a different perspective, kind of stops you in your tracks because we get so like sideways on things and one like narrow-sided. And I think like sometimes just hearing from her, like, come on, you're being ridiculous. Okay, for instance, my son, he vapes, and it pisses me off because like never smoked in my life. And I'm just like, why would you want to destroy your lungs? And you know, I get really upset in general. Like, I don't know why, but I I feel like sometimes I'm like almost putting his character into it too.

11:52 SPEAKER_02: And you know, she'll remind me, like, I smoke or, you know, whatever. And I'm like, and she's a great person. Like, do you know what I mean? But like, it's easy to get inside your own head about certain things. And like hearing each other's perspective when we're like that kind of brings you back to reality really quick. And just like, okay, maybe I'm not seeing this the way I should. And having someone that they can do that and we're not offended by it.

12:16 SPEAKER_04: Because your spouse generally has to agree with you, otherwise, he's in a doghouse. You do need the third party that you can bounce something off of. Jackie, and I always say, we used to talk about it too, is like, Jackie can be wrong and we can be in a situation. I know she's wrong, and that's not the place we're talking about it. I'm right. Defending her to the end, and then we're leaving, and then we're getting in the car, and I'm like, I don't know if you're right in that, but it doesn't matter.

12:38 SPEAKER_04: Like, we're defending each other, we're getting out of the situation, and then later we'll talk about the problem. I'm sure you girls do the same.

12:45 SPEAKER_00: That's like ripping Beth on yellow stone. Like, yes, he will defend her to the end, even if she's wrong, and I will do the same for her. Now, later we'll have a conversation about it, and I'll be like, well, I don't think this, or she'll do the same with me, but that's not gonna change how I feel about her.

13:04 SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah. We defend and then we we talk about that later. It's like get her out of the situation, yep, drag her out and get her safe, and then be like, you need to think about what you just did there. Yeah, is that one all right?

13:15 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, take it.

13:16 SPEAKER_02: Like that TikTok, I think I sent it to you not that long ago. It said something about when my best friend burns someone's house down, they shouldn't have upset my angel baby, right?

13:27 SPEAKER_03: It's their fault their house got burned down.

13:31 SPEAKER_04: If your children could describe your friendship, what would would be the one thing they would say about you too?

13:36 SPEAKER_00: I mean, I know my kids know how I feel about her. They now I have a 15-year-old, a 12-year-old, a six-year-old, and a four-year-old. So the four-year-old would you know, train wreck, but but yes, they know that like I can tell you my oldest, my two oldest would be like it's constant. There's when my mom says my best friend, they know right it's Mandy. It's Mandy, yeah.

14:03 SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah. They've watched that relationship since they were kids. Yes.

14:06 SPEAKER_00: And I use it as an example for my older kids when talking about life in general and friends and people that do shitty things. And I'm like, is that really your friend? Because Mandy wouldn't do that to me.

14:22 SPEAKER_04: It's a good example of like a real friendship. It also will teach them as they grow on that what a real friend looks like because a real friend that stays and endures and doesn't compete, and all the things that women can get sideways on. Yep, especially if you can find somebody that you can do that with.

14:44 SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

14:44 SPEAKER_04: Yep. I think that's how I my my kids feel too. My I have boys, I know you have boys too, right? Just one boy. Yeah. So you, you know, even the boys though, I know my kids value their friendships, and they've probably learned that a lot from my friendships, that those are gonna be important. So I'm sure your son too.

15:02 SPEAKER_02: So he's got a friend that they've been good friends since they were 12, and they've grown together over the last seven years. And my kid, he's he's battled some depression issues, and he's always running to people he probably shouldn't. And that friend will come to us and like he'll tell us, hey, this is what we're up to, this is you know, whatever. And he isn't afraid to like tell us when like off track. Good. And it's mad, but then when like we talk about it, I'm like, that's your ride or die.

15:32 SPEAKER_02: I literally tell him, like, that's your billy. And I'm like, that's what he knows. He knows it means ride or die, and it does not matter. And it sometimes needs raw honesty for safety, protection, all the things. Right.

15:44 SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you gotta be willing to protect them too, right? So we do that. I know I do that with Jackie too. So I you just you just do. Yeah. So if you if you've taught that, if you're a good pillar for that for them, then they're gonna have beautiful friendships and they're gonna appreciate them because you do learn it from somebody. And I think that, you know, it's our it's our duty as women to teach other girls and teach people that these friendships are vital to living and do not sidestep them. You don't know how many groups Jackie and I are on on Facebook because we watch a lot of girls' stuff because we do these podcasts, but it's like, I'm I'm married and I'm getting divorced, he's leaving me for so-and-so, and I don't have many friends.

16:23 SPEAKER_04: Like, you can't live like that, man. You have to maintain your own identity in these things. So that's right. We see it, I see it a lot. I'm sure you girls have seen it too. So you girls are the lucky ones. So you have a beautiful story, it started on a swing set, it's definitely endured more than most.

16:41 SPEAKER_00: And we have literally gone through hell together.

16:43 SPEAKER_04: And I watched it today, so I know. And it's we want people to watch it, so go watch it, but it will inspire you. And then when they sit down and tell each other what they mean to each other, it's it's something to watch, it's something to experience. So you guys have some questions. Jackie and I usually do these with each other, but I'm gonna let you two take it. So, Billy, you go first.

17:02 SPEAKER_00: What has our friendship taught you about love?

17:05 SPEAKER_02: It's long suffering. So, you know, like we just said, we've been through hell and back. It isn't always laugh, it isn't always fun. You are withstanding a lot of storms with somebody, and you know, you've got to really, like you said earlier, we're rooted. So being rooted so that that storm um doesn't take one of us out, and we're able to kind of lock in and and be there for each other. So I would say it's taught us that long suffering is love.

17:33 SPEAKER_04: Right. And that's important to remember in friendships, everybody, is that it is not it's it's the good times, but it's a lot of the bad times and the sticking around.

17:42 SPEAKER_02: Why do you think our friendship has lasted when so many others do not?

17:46 SPEAKER_00: Because value what each other thinks we value the other person's opinion of what we're doing in our life. Like the love we have there is so strong that that when I go to her and I'm like, hey, this is what's going on, like I want to know her opinion. And I may not agree, she may not agree, but it's important. When did you realize our friendship was something special? My goodness.

18:14 SPEAKER_02: Like forever, like from the beginning. Like I knew that I was lonely, uh, having moved into that neighborhood and having nobody and then just seeing you there. Like I knew that, you know, we were gonna we were gonna be five. Like we were gonna, we were gonna have a childhood.

18:30 SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's hard at five to like but we were only children, right? So we had no siblings, we had no one to play with, and the rest of the kids on the street were boys. Yeah.

18:40 SPEAKER_03: So it was just by default. You and your best friends, yeah, yeah.

18:43 SPEAKER_02: We literally just showed up and there it was on a screenset. Listen to this story. That's all they gotta say about that. What do you think makes our friendship so different?

18:52 SPEAKER_00: That we've survived so long, like we have grace for each other, and we have compassion and empathy, and like there are times she will message me, and I will kind of be hard about she feels one way about something, and I am like, I don't agree with you, I don't agree with you, and here's why. And she doesn't get angry, she doesn't stop messaging me, she listens, and then we talk about it, and then does what she wants to do, anyways. She knows I'm gonna support her no matter what. But she wants my opinion, I'm giving it to her.

19:33 SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you can't always agree. That's important with best friends, is that you gotta be able to go, she's really gonna tell me the truth. Yeah, I may not like it, but she will tell me the truth, and I may not do what she tells me to do, but I'm gonna hear her truth, and that's important. That's just it. Because there's a lot of friends out there be like, Oh yeah, that's great, you should do that totally.

19:49 SPEAKER_00: Because there are so many, there are so many superficial friendships right now. I watched the girls in the high school with like my daughter being in the high school, and I'm like, this is terrible. But we didn't have social media, we didn't have cell phones, we didn't like we had a garden hose and sprinkler and bicycles.

20:12 SPEAKER_02: Bicycle, one swing set. Yeah, two. I also feel there's like a creeping false humility in these kids. Like, I see it in some people, like primarily they'll post pictures of each other and they'll say how gorgeous they are, even if they don't mean it. I don't know. We just didn't talk like that. And I feel like a lot of them, like it is very superficial, like you said. And I I feel like for some of them, there's a false humility behind it. And and you do have to have a lot of humility.

20:39 SPEAKER_00: There are things she does that irritate me. I'm not gonna lie, but I'm like, it is what it is. I can overlook that because of what we have. She knows my whole story, so like she's like the keeper of that.

20:52 SPEAKER_04: She stayed and and loved you through it.

20:54 SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

20:55 SPEAKER_04: Yeah. And it and interestingly, too, I was reminded today when I was listening to your stuff is that you two were not necessarily in the same friend group, even through high school. No. So you were you're not even in the same no always together. You just were best friends, which is an interesting you know, thing with you guys is that it wasn't like you needed to be with each other and you couldn't live without each other, and you developed on your own and still remain best friends. That's right.

21:17 SPEAKER_04: It's amazing. So that's a sign up. We loved it then by yeah, you both developed in your own people and still held space for each other, which is really amazing. So yeah.

21:26 SPEAKER_02: We never questioned our like spots, yeah, which is beautiful.

21:30 SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Uh like it she has her friends, I have my friends, but I know who's there 100% of the time. Right, right.

21:38 SPEAKER_04: And it's I'm probably a little a little hard on your other friends because they they know about the two of you.

21:43 SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Yeah. And and then like she has great friends, and I have great friends. And when we get together, which isn't very often, but for instance, I had a birthday party, a surprise birthday party for my husband, and like we got together, and Mandy was Very welcoming of those friends. She's like, I appreciate you. I love you because you're here when I can't be.

22:08 SPEAKER_04: And that's important. It's not a competition. If you can find somebody that you don't have to compete or be jealous of in a relationship, that's I think that's the true test of really what a solid good friendship is. And I think you girls are really, really good example of how to be good friends and how we teach our younger girls to be good friends. And I want to make sure that we highlight that in this because it's pretty rare what you have. So I think that you both know that. But I think your other friends probably are jealous of the two of you.

22:40 SPEAKER_02: A lot of times they either like say in person when we're together or I, you know, comment on certain posts that they do love what we have. Like they have all been pretty good about it.

22:50 SPEAKER_04: I'm sure you've inspired them too to some degree, that they wish they had those deep relationships with somebody as well. Anytime that you guys share your story, I'm sure that you're going to inspire women to to dig deeper and to love harder and to trust more because those are the things that you girls do all the time with each other. Jackie and I's goal is to really highlight stories and to teach women that these women are important, but also how to be a really good friend. Because I don't know if we have those lessons.

23:16 SPEAKER_04: And we talk about the housewives. I don't know if you guys watch the housewives that much, but it's a bloodbath of just drama. We watch it and we're like, well, they're not even really friends. No. They're put together in a show to do that. So where are we learning how to be friends? We look at, you know, we have Fel and Louise, Lucy and Ethel. And some of these are just fabricated friendships. I think they're real friends in life. That's why we kind of see their friendship and we can feel it. But where is our where do we go for that?

23:41 SPEAKER_04: What do we have? Yep. When we did the best phone thing, we were trying to find best friend songs and we couldn't find any. There was a few. There's one about killing the husband and burying him and staying together.

23:52 SPEAKER_02: That song has its place. I mean, we are with what is it? It says I'm a multi-purpose friend. I'm down for church, brunch, aggravated assault. You know, like multi-purpose friend. True though.

24:04 SPEAKER_03: But I mean that's what a real that's what a real friend does, right?

24:08 SPEAKER_00: But like she won't message me and say hi. Like she'll just message what she's thinking, and then I will message back. And it may be I want to kill my husband today, or it may be I want to beat my son, or like figuratively speaking, but then I'm like, what's going on? Right. And then we get into the interaction. Or it may be, hey, we went here today, we had fun, and I'm like, let me see some pictures. Like it, it's super random, but we speak almost, I think, every day.

24:42 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, since Snapchat streaks and stuff, we're real good about that. And you send memes back to each other. So bad. Oh, yeah.

24:48 SPEAKER_04: Notice there's a lot of girls on TikTok just picking up like random love songs and they're singing them to each other because we don't have any songs.

24:54 SPEAKER_02: He sent me one was it, it it had nothing's gonna stop us now. Right. The video. And then like I think I made one on my TikTok and I actually used I'll stand by you. I mean, it's a couple song, but like I feel that.

25:08 SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Like, so where there aren't songs, I agree with you. Why do you think women need friendships like this? My gosh.

25:13 SPEAKER_02: Well, because like isolation is not a good place to be. Life's extremely hard. And you know, literally doing life with somebody is is how you're gonna get through those really dark times. Like, I'll literally message you and be like, Unfortunately, I woke up today, which is extremely melodramatic. But if I'm going through it, I'm messaging that type of stuff. It's dark and it sucks. And like I couldn't imagine not being able to bounce that off and say some crazy things that might get me committed by anybody else.

25:46 SPEAKER_02: But like, you need friendships like that because like they know she's really going through it.

25:51 SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, she's being extra dramatic today, so I have to handle her with kid gloves. Right. Like, right.

25:58 SPEAKER_04: Like I can always say we say the most unhinged things to each other. It's a free space to feel whatever you feel it's in your mind, it's out your mouth, and everybody's okay with it. We're not doing any of it, but we certainly can discuss it.

26:11 SPEAKER_02: What do you think we've protected that other friendships sometimes lose?

26:15 SPEAKER_00: We have been kind of isolated, and we formed a bond that other kids who are have siblings or or other kids right nearby, um, they don't get that bond because it's who's available to play, who's available to do this. We know each other's weaknesses and we have not exploited correct correct. Like I I know she has told me everything, and I have told her everything, and that's not going anywhere.

26:54 SPEAKER_03: No, yeah, ever. Yeah, ever. Right. We're dying, we're dose.

26:59 SPEAKER_00: If our friendship disappeared tomorrow, what part of your life would be hardest to replace?

27:06 SPEAKER_02: That that's like that would be a huge heaping hole. Like, there isn't a part you you you would lose part of yourself. Like you would never come back from that. Actually, we talk about this all the time. My cousin, her best friend died that she's been best friends with since she was like the same age we became best friends, and like we see her post things all the time, and we're just like like she's never been the same again. Right. And like I think, you know, there's just a part of you that's never coming back from that.

27:34 SPEAKER_02: Right.

27:35 SPEAKER_00: One of us is gonna have to be at the other's funeral.

27:38 SPEAKER_04: I know I have those feelings too. It's like, I hope it's me that goes first because I don't want to live through that.

27:43 SPEAKER_02: So yeah, that's that's just the thought of it is like too much.

27:46 SPEAKER_04: Yeah. And you girls have skimmed through that a little bit too when you're yeah with your health, so I know that's a touchy point for you.

27:53 SPEAKER_02: Why do you think our friendship has mattered so much in your life?

27:56 SPEAKER_00: Because I moved to a new home and I had no one. I like I was in a new town, and there's this little girl that came over with her dad, and we are so opposite, but it's unreal how complete opposites we are. But like, if I message her, she's like, I got you over. It doesn't matter. I can tell her something absurd, and she's like, I don't know, I'll figure it out. There's never been a time where I've questioned where she stands. I'm like, I need to call Mandy.

28:32 SPEAKER_02: Did you guys do kindergarten together? I think she was PM and I was AM.

28:35 SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

28:36 SPEAKER_02: I remember her having chickenpox and I had to take her Mac and Tab to read, and she didn't do well with the fever reading that. Do you remember that? You did not like the Mac ate tab or whatever the hell, which one I ate what, but that was very traumatic. So yeah, we were she moved to our neighborhood. Um, the fall we went into kindergarten. So, like, yes, we were not in each other's class. Actually, I think I even said that in the YouTube. We rarely ever, never, I don't think, got to be in each other's class.

29:03 SPEAKER_02: We were in the same homeroom the whole way through high school, though.

29:06 SPEAKER_00: That's good. Because our uh last medical order. Yeah, yeah.

29:10 SPEAKER_04: Yeah. Which is good. I mean, you have to have some some time together. Yeah. Okay. One of the reasons Jackie and I created Bestimony was simply to celebrate friendships. It was to elevate them, to remind women that one of the greatest relationships they'll ever have may never come with a marriage license. Friendships shape who we become, they influence our children, they carry us through heartbreak, illness, joy, motherhood, loss, and every season in between. If we begin teaching young women that finding and protecting a great best friend is one of life's greatest gifts, then maybe we'll raise a generation that doesn't take those relationships for granted.

29:42 SPEAKER_04: Mandy and Billy, thank you for showing us what is possible. Because your love story isn't just beautiful, it's a blueprint. If this episode hit you in the fields or made you laugh way too hard, we consider that a win. Be sure to subscribe and leave a review and share it with your ride or die. And when you're ready to make your friendship official, book your bestimony at RhinestoneWeddingchapel.com because some of the best love stories don't always come with a ring.

30:25 Song: Reuniting's like we never been apart, and every single time we add an iron heart to heart.

30:45 Song: There's not enough words to describe what you have made a make.

30:59 Song: I'll bottom back to the bright.