The Front Row

A Weekly Friendship Ritual | The Best Resolution this Year.

“"Little do my friends know, they're healing me every time we hang out."

Live footage from front row last week :)

There's a beautiful visualization exercise I heard about a while ago that asks you to picture your 70th birthday celebration and describe the event from start to finish. Who attends? What do they say? Where is the celebration? How long does it last? What do you love about it, and what makes it memorable? What’s powerful about this reflection is that everything you describe ties back to something you’re doing (or not doing) today. Truthfully, everything that shows up for you at 70 is something you’ve invested in through the years—whether that’s a relationship, a place in your community, or even your health. The trap is that we often live our lives inversely, sacrificing the things we know will matter most to the 70-year-old version of us.

I don’t know much about the 70-year-old me, but I can see a round table in a garden on a sunny Sunday afternoon with good food on the table, people in every seat, and laughter—the kind that makes your head hurt. A lot goes into that picture—from the health to enjoy great food to the peace of mind that resources bring. But by far, the most significant investment is in who sits around the table. The hearts around it. The front row.

At the start of this year, I made a simple resolution with two of my closest friends. Ten months in, it’s turned out to be the most powerful act of healing and the most valuable investment in that future picture.

I watched a video the other day of Trevor Noah and Simon Sinek unpacking the concept of friendship and its importance to our sense of wholeness. In that interview, Trevor says, that ‘when people say they sacrificed so much for career success, they shouldn't be afraid to give that sacrifice a name—because often times it was the people in their lives that they called friends’. I’m sure we can all relate to the fact that friends are usually the first on the chopping block during seasons that demand so much from us growth-wise. We’re not socialized to prioritize our friendships; we don’t learn how to invest in them, how to show up, or how to pick and build them. Friendships, therefore, often grow like weeds, feeding on the little similarities we share—same place, same time—so we become friends. As a result, the minute the forces that held you together no longer exist, the friendship dies. And yet, if there’s any structure so crucial to our sense of self, joy, ambition, and safety, it’s friendship. It’s the very thing we must sacrifice for, feed, prioritize, and invest in, because at the end of the day, as they say in the interview: "Your friends will be there for you, your work won’t."

Earlier this year, the three of us sat down for a deep conversation. We were feeling the weight of this drift. We were each navigating the maze of adulthood—new jobs, challenging relationships, loneliness, and an overwhelming sense of “figuring things out.” And though we saw each other on weekends and stayed in touch online, it wasn’t enough. We weren’t really connected. We weren’t sitting in the front row of each other’s lives.

That’s when the idea of the "Front Row" was born. Admittedly, I found the concept while scrolling on Instagram, where this lady beautifully described life as a movie and asked: Who is sitting in your front row? These are the people who witness your wins, your heartaches, your joy, and your struggles up close. Your front row may be made up of friends, family, or even a partner, but the key is that they see you in all your forms.

Our resolution was to create a "Front Row Hangout"—one evening every week, no excuses. The only rule? Show up as you are. Some days we cooked, other days we just worked side by side. Sometimes we laughed, sometimes we cried, and on some nights, we barely spoke at all. But we showed up. And here’s what’s magical about that simple resolution:

Come as You Are.
I remember the first few hangouts, where we felt the pressure to make the time together "productive" or "meaningful." We wanted updates, conversation topics, and plans. But we quickly learned that the real power was in simply being together and showing up, without expectation or performance. You don’t have to be “put together” to belong here. You can be tired, sad, excited, or lost. Whatever state you’re in, we like you here. And once you feel that kind of acceptance, you realize how brave it makes you in the world. You can go out and face the chaos because you know there’s a place where you’re always enough.

Love is Not Always Convenient.
Sometimes, showing up wasn’t easy. We’d have busy days or stressful weeks. There were moments when the last thing we wanted to do was leave the house. But that’s the beauty of friendship—it isn’t always convenient. It forces you to step outside yourself, because even on the days you feel you could do without it, the next person needs you there. Similarly, there will be days when you need help, when you need someone to come and get you out of bed, and it won’t be convenient—but you know you can ask for it. Trust isn’t built in the moments you give help, it’s built in the moments you ask for it.

Find People Going Up Mountains and Climb Together.
I believe that sometimes certain blessings don’t come into your life because you’re not in the right environment for them to grow. If your dreams are a flower, your friends are the soil—they make up your environment. There’s a quiet ambition at the core of this front row that shows up in pushing each other to get out of our own way, in patiently investing the time to understand, probe, and untangle the barriers that make us feel stuck. It’s the reminder that it’s okay to stumble, fall, or rest, but we’re climbing, and you will reach the top.

Call Me by My Name.
We all wear a series of alter egos every day. Whether it’s your boss babe persona that goes to work every morning or your nurturing persona when you’re around family, your front row consists of the people who know you and call you by your name. There’s a way they hold the truest, unshackled version of your identity. They call you by your name, not your potential or your achievements. They know you through different seasons and still keep that childlike, laughing image of you in their hearts. There’s something freeing and beautifully enchanting about being seen—truly seen and loved.

The Love Language of Friendship: Time.
When it comes to friendships, there is one true love language: time. Time is the most valuable thing we can give each other. It’s in the little moments—walking slowly together, listening to a rant, showing up even when you’re tired. That’s where love grows. I realized that when the world asks us to invest in something, it carves out the time for it—your career and ambitions arguably take the biggest chunk of time—9-5 every day of the week. There’s rest on the weekend and even the Sabbath, because spiritual connection is important. So when we say we want to prioritize our friendships, where does that live on our calendar? What time is dedicated to that priority?

So, to my front row (I’m going to see if you actually read this—lol)
I hope you know that every hug, every phone call, every bout of laughter, every rant, every extended conversation in the cold by the car, every hand held and every meal shared, every dream kept, has healed me in ways I didn’t expect. I hope for many more Mondays, sitting together, simply watching the movie of our lives unfold.

- K