Poppy knew within the first week of meeting Emily in person that they were going to be close. After a mid-pandemic Snapchat message from Emily suggesting that they “be friends,” the two hadn’t spoken at all. She thought that might be the end of it, but from their first face-to-face interaction, it was clear that wasn’t the case..

“She just felt like a person I was meant to be friends with,” Poppy said. As they spent more time together, Poppy realized just how much they have in common. The two have found countless shared interests, from writing poetry to fashion to collecting sea shells. 

Poppy relishes how poetry allows her to appreciate just how intimately she knows Emily, secretly delighting in being able to understand all of her hidden references.

“It makes you feel like an insider,” Poppy said. “Everyone else thinks that it’s some grand metaphor, but I know exactly what she’s talking about.”

She likes that she knows things about Emily that no one else does, but she also wants everyone to get to see the Emily that she does. On a cruise with Emily’s family, she got the opportunity, pushing Emily out of her comfort zone and into doing karaoke for the whole ship. At breakfast the next day, her grandmother thanked her for helping bring Emily out of her shell. She felt lucky to be able to lend Emily the confidence that she gives her every day. 

“Her and I are very suited to each other,” Poppy said. “Just in terms of our dispositions and senses of humor and everything.”

She never has to worry if the feeling is mutual. Emily is not shy about showing her affection — she showers her with it.

“Every time I’ve ever been sick during our friendship, she comes and drops a gift off at my house,” Poppy said. “Just last week she said, ‘I’ll bring you any treat you want,’ so I got her to bring me ice cream.”

There is no shortage of “I love you, dude’s” between them either. 

“We’ve become very sentimental and sappy,” Poppy said. The sentimentality occasionally gives way to mild negativity — the two love to complain together.

“[Complaining is] one of our favorite sports, per se,” Poppy said. She can always count on having Emily in her corner.

“I love the way she’s able to be such a hater,” Poppy said. “But she’s also such a lover, and probably the most empathetic person I’ve ever met. She cares so much about everything, but then she’s also able to make fun of things.”

Sometimes Poppy is in awe of her empathy: she can’t imagine getting sad on behalf of her stuffed animals. The two went on a cruise together, where Emily’s sentimentality got the better of her.

“We weren’t allowed to take our shells on the boat and she cried because she loved her shells and I felt really bad about that,” Poppy said.

Poppy loves that her friend is a caring and introspective person. Emily notices things that other people don’t. Poppy admires how far she’ll go out of her way to make everybody feel included, accepted and cherished.

Even when they fight, it feels different — comforting somehow. Poppy has a unique faith in their friendship’s capacity to weather even the most tumultuous of storms. 

“With other friends, if I accidentally say something mean I’m like, ‘Are they not gonna like me anymore? What’s going to happen? This is stressful,’” Poppy said. “With Emily, I feel like I can always trust that Emily and I are good. We’ll be fine. We’ll move on.”

To those wondering why they should want to be Emily’s friend, Poppy replies, “Well you shouldn’t, because she’s mine.”

Emily had just moved to Ann Arbor from New Jersey when the pandemic forced school onto Zoom. She’d spent the entire year with her parents, feeling isolated without any friends in her new town. When she saw Poppy’s profile photo, and heard that she was in fact as cool as she looked from a mutual friend, she tamped down her anxiety and decided to make an effort.

“I was in my it’s worth a shot era,” Emily said. “I was like, ‘What’s the harm?’” Her moment of bravery paid off — Poppy has become one of her dearest friends.

“I love having someone that I can connect with on a level that I can’t connect with other people on,” Emily said. “I think we’re two different versions of the same person.” Sometimes they are even too similar. Both of them have a tendency to bypass talking about things that hurt them — often leading to one not knowing the other is upset.

“I know that I can be very blunt and sometimes say something and not mean it,” Emily said. “I don’t think Poppy always says something when I say something that was not so nice.” Emily wishes she could always know when Poppy is upset, so that she can make it better. She never intends to hurt people with what she says.

“I consider myself to be a nice person, not because I always say nice things, but because I mean nice things and I truly do wish the best on everyone,” Emily said.

When they do fight (which is rare), Emily is posed with another issue. Poppy is her go-to source of moral support — or at least commiseration.

“Poppy is normally the person I complain with, so it is really tough for me when I’m annoyed with Poppy,” Emily said. She usually resorts to talking it over with her mom. The step back allows her to cool down before saying something she doesn’t want to in the heat of the moment.

Even those things about Poppy that annoy her are just another part of the friend she loves so much. In fact, the only thing she’d change about Poppy is her palate — in one very specific way. Emily loves cooking for her friends, but there’s a major obstacle. The only thing she knows how to make is pasta, but Poppy can’t stand eating it.

Fortunately, there are other ways for her to show how much she cares. Emily relishes hours spent finding, or making, the perfect gifts for her friends, and she loves that Poppy reciprocates that time and effort.  

She’s excited for a not-so-secret gift she’s been working on for Poppy — a  charm bracelet that she’s been dying to finally put together.

It’s the least she can do for the person who has done so much for her. Poppy is extroverted where she is introverted, helping her come out of her comfort zone and take leaps she never would have taken without her — take the karaoke on the cruise they went on together for example. But Emily never feels like she needs to change anything about herself for Poppy. She never pressures her into doing anything that she doesn’t want to do.

“She makes you feel welcome and comfortable and happy with yourself,” Emily said. “She just makes me feel good about myself.”

Emily can always count on Poppy to be her most stalwart supporter. In big groups, where she would sometimes feel uncomfortable, or out of place, she knows that Poppy is looking out for her.

“She’s just like a haven in a big group of people,” Emily said. “Someone that can remind you that you’ve got someone.”

Though they sometimes argue over Emily’s love for New Jersey (opposed to Poppy’s love for Michigan), Poppy has helped make Ann Arbor feel like home.