For more than a decade, Amy Mathis has been blessed with the kind of friendships that many women may envy.
But if you ask any six of her dearest friends — Natalie, Whitney, Taylor, Jena, Emmy and Ashton — they’re quick to admit that they’ve been the lucky ones.
“Amy is the life of the party,” Taylor said. “She cares about other people. She wants everyone to have a good time. She loves to dance and sing. She can always make me feel better and put a smile on my face.”
Amy, 43, first became friends with all six women back when they were Georgia College & State University students who signed up to be part of the university’s Best Buddies program. Through the organization, GCSU students are paired with individuals from the Life Enrichment Center — a private, nonprofit program serving adults with intellectual disabilities.
“It is an avenue for developing relationships that have the potential to go beyond the students’ just four years here at Georgia College,” said Barbara Coleman, executive director of the Life Enrichment Center.
Amy and her friends are a testament to just that.
“They have been excellent, and Amy has been very involved with them, and we’ve enjoyed Amy having such friends that continue even until today…,” her mother, Carol, said. “We made a commitment to be the best best buddy we could be, and they in turn I think were just dedicated to the program, too.”
There have been slumber parties, movie outings, shopping trips, dinner dates and boat rides. Amy has attended her friends’ graduations, tennis matches and softball games, and there has been lots and lots of dancing.
“And you just had a good old time, didn’t you?” her mother asked.
“Yes,” Amy answered enthusiastically. “I had fun… I love hanging out and having fun.”
Amy is currently in hospice care for congestive heart failure, and while she and her family now live near Athens and each of her six buddies have their own careers in other cities, their friendships have endured.
“They’re like adopted daughters for us,” Carol said. “We fill each other in on what’s going on … I’ll text them and just kind of give them an update on Amy, and they’ll Facetime Amy and make time in their busy schedules. The quality of time they spend with her has been great.”
When Taylor, who first met Amy in fall 2015, graduated from college, there was never a doubt that they would remain in touch.
“It was important, but it was just easy you know?” she said.
It’s not lost on the women now the impact that their friendship with Amy has made on them as each have gone into service careers.
Whitney, who first met Amy in 2011, is a special education transition teacher, serving students ages 18 through 22 who are learning life skills, daily living and vocational skills.
“I learned so much about myself while being best buddies with Amy,” she said. “I learned just how fun and carefree I could be with her. I think this ultimately made me love working with this population of adults because this is exactly what I do now for my job. I couldn’t imagine a better job to do each day, and I thank Amy and Best Buddies for showing me just how much I love it.”
Taylor is now a nurse, and she said her friendship with Amy taught her not to stress about the small stuff.
“She can always see the good in everything, the positive in everything, the brighter side… She’s been through the ups and downs too, and she can always come out on top, so that’s what I’ve learned. She’s inspired me to have that mindset even when times are hard.”
Emmy, who first met Amy in 2019, credits their friendship for helping her to realize what she wanted to do with her life. While she had grown up volunteering with special needs children, she had never had experience with the adult population until Amy.
“It was a good transition for me, and it kind of helped me figure out what I want to do,” said Emmy, who is now a special needs life coach.
Jena was Amy’s Best Buddy from 2014 to 2018, and she joined the program immediately when she got to college.
“She was one of my first friends, honestly, in Milledgeville…,” she said. “She knew me from the get-go starting out as a freshman, and it was just cool to walk through life together.”
The two friends celebrated different milestones together, and along the way, Amy’s family became family to Jena, who is now an occupational therapist. The two Facetime about once a week.
“I feel like Amy, from the first day I met her, has just always been so joyful, so full of energy, so full of life, and just very inclusive of everyone,” she said. “She seems to always be putting other people’s needs above her own, which is super sweet but kind of rare. Even when she’s been so sick and so tired, she still — when we’ve met for coffee or Facetimed — she’s always asking me questions even though I know she’s in a lot of pain and super exhausted, so that’s stayed very true throughout her entire life which has been real sweet.”
Natalie was Amy’s best buddy from 2013 to 2015. Today as a special education teacher, she is a better listener to her students because of Amy.
“She would tell stories, and I think that it’s taught me to listen more to kids…,” she said. “I ask them more questions and have them share with me because I think that they have a lot more to share than we give them time to, and I think that that’s one of the biggest things — slow down and enjoy all of the times and listen to stories and give them time to share.”
She said their friendship taught her to complain less and enjoy more.
“Her mom reached out and thanked me for enriching her life, and I’m sitting here like, well, you know, Amy walks in the room and lights it up, so… she taught me more than I enriched her life.”
Ashton, a senior special education major, is Amy’s most recent Best Buddy.
“She is just the happiest-go-lucky person you’ll ever meet,” she said of Amy. “I remember her mom told me the first time we went to lunch together… ‘Amy has some health issues that we’re working through, but you’ll never hear it from her.’ She is the most positive person ever. Every time that I see her, she’s just sunshine and happiness, truly.”
Today, as Carol looks back on the special friends her daughter has known, she can’t help but see the women through the eyes of a mother.
“All of them are loveable, dependable, punctual, compassionate,” Carol says. “Their parents need to be proud of them… [They’re] excellent young women…They’ve been some of her best friends.”
But like so many of the others, Ashton said it’s Amy’s friends who got the best end of the deal.
“I was so lucky to get to be friends with her honestly. She’s really… disability or not, whatever… one of the best friends someone could have.”
