From MPR, this is Invisibilia, I'm Yo-Way Shah.

So about eight years ago, I went to this music festival on a whim within acquaintance.

We were woefully unprepared, not enough food, tiny, sweltering tent, no glamping accessories.

Even in hour of arriving, I lost the car keys while getting a tour on a golf cart.

Luckily, this acquaintance, she was unfazed, and someone found the car keys later, so it could

eventually get the hell out.

And I think it was then, at a diner, hungover, when I noticed something had shifted.

Even though I'd known this person casually for a couple years, I remember feeling all

of a sudden certain that we'd chosen each other.

Like somehow, without talking about it, we went from floating on separate tubes on a river

to being tied tightly together by a rope.

This person would go on to become my best friend.

And honestly, it's the first time I've experienced such ease in a friendship.

We just get each other, which makes sense, because we have a lot of similarities.

Like we're both Asian American journalists, both children of immigrants who grew up middle

class in the suburbs.

We both believe in no pouting at the party.

We think it's a crime to leave food on your plate.

And we're both very polite and working on it.

To this day, it still feels like a friend blessing that out of all the possible options,

we happen to pick each other, and it's such a snug fit.

Anyway, I've been thinking about all this, because the other day, I was talking to a researcher

...