what is/who are/WHY “madam”?
first things first: it’s a portmanteau of marina + adam (think bennifer or brangelina or, more importantly, zanessa — disney channel’s zac efron and vanessa hudgens, who were marina’s first loves (and first heartbreaks when they broke up. she still hopes they get back together)). however it didn’t start that way.
if you know them well you know they love a nickname. it’s how their dog kora ends up mostly being called ‘rito (kora > korabora > bora > burrito > rito). while marina is an easy name to nick — rini, rinibean, bean — adam is not. try as his sisters may, marina never successfully could call him “ad” or “adman.” though she has mistakenly fallen into his mom’s trap of calling him every other friedman family name while in a group.
roughly six years ago marina accidentally called adam “madam” and, similar to korabora, she couldn’t stop. it rolled off the tongue, it felt funny (adam is not a lady, much less a formal one), and it wasn’t lost on her that it also combined their names. so in the spirit of a good alliteration and a nod to couples they love — again, zanessa, or more local ones they actually know, like jander — madam in mallorca was born.
now for some history
adam and marina grew up a few miles from each other in indianapolis, only meeting in high school when marina luckily decided to move out of the catholic mafia that is north deanery and attend north central. fun fact - adam’s grandmother pearl was apart of the first north central graduating class! his mom and both sisters also attended, with shayna earning salutatorian (showoff) and julia studying independently abroad (during high school…showoff).
anyway, they met in period 6/7 honors english class under the brilliant (to marina) and difficult (to adam) kate young. marina would throw pencils on the ground for his attention.
they were “friendly” through the years, especially in journalism/newspaper, which adam was online editor of (showoff) and marina slept through (she’s medicated for that now). they shared the same weird, maybe mean style of banter that resulted in their journalism teacher making them sign a friendship contract. and after some sporadic texting, several flake offs from marina, and a farewell to high school, she agreed to go see a movie. it was ted 2, and she had never seen ted 1, and didn’t care because she was so nervous. the date was june 16, 2015, and it kickstarted the rest of their lives.
the past 11 years has survived long distance (both college and career), moving to the middle of nowhere (jackson, tennessee - every state must be required to have a small town named jackson, as marina’s grandparents live in jackson, michigan, which is pretty much an exact replica but snows more), multiple knee surgeries, cancer, loss.
it’s also brought them their pride and joy, kora; an apartment that feels like home in a beautiful neighborhood in nashville; and the best friends they could ask for. the friedmans pulled marina into a massive whirlwind of a family and, without trying, demonstrated to her cooperation and compromise and a lot of financial responsibility. the higueras instilled a permanent love of racing in adam along with a passion for soft lighting and eating around the table each night.
they’ve grown a lot over the years — sometimes physically apart but always together.
it’s been 11 years of smiling so much your cheeks hurt, laughing so hard you can’t get air in your lungs, hands so familiar you feel secure as soon as you squeeze them.
so…11 down, forever to go!