For My Best Friend On Her Birthday

I am really lucky. I have amazing girlfriends. These handful of ladies are among some of the most beautiful, brilliant, and compassionate you could ever hope to get to know. I am so grateful to call them my best friends and count them as part of my inner circle.

But the one I want to tell you about today is my very best friend that I have known the longest, since we were fourteen years old. That was eighteen years ago!!!!!!!! I cannot even believe I have been alive long enough to know someone that long. But I do. When I think back to our friendship- the day we met, birthdays, graduations, it all goes by in a flash. I guess time really does fly when you are having fun.

It is ironic to say it now but I met my best friend on a vacation. It was fate.

In my freshman year of high school I went on a murder mystery weekend. We stayed in villas that had six girls in each. I was there with my friends and theirs. That is how I met my b.f.f. and the rest as they say is history.

That weekend was fun but when I think of it now it makes me laugh. I remember it was snowing and freezing out. I remember getting on and off the bus on the ride there. I remember eating Fruit Loops for snacks in the middle of the night. Mostly I remember that every day since that day I had someone at my side that was always on my side.

The television show “Friends” was a major part of our lives back in the old days when you had to wait until a show was about to start to stick in the blank tape and then hit record before you could go out.

Needless to say this is our theme song for more reasons than I have time to share:

This is the person I want near me during my darkest hours and with me in the light of joy in fun. Her gorgeous genius kids are my blood.

We grew up from girls to grown women together.

We did all of our important firsts together:

·     First time we left the country on vacation (Cancun, Mexico).

·     First time swimming with a wild animal (dolphins).

·     First jobs (the moment we turned sweet sixteen).

·     First voting registration and elections.

·     First time drinking legally.

·     First time driving (again legally) and learning to pump gas.

·     First weekend I was away at college.

·     First love and heartbreaks.

·     First time a beloved family member died.

·     First time she moved.

·     First time one of us got married.

·     First time she had a baby.

She is always my first phone call whether it is good or bad news. For that matter she is also my first phone call when I am bored or need a good laugh. She is my sounding board, cheerleader, protector, co-conspirator, and lifeline all wrapped up in one very tall, funny, loving, easygoing package. A better best friend you will never find.

Some people search their whole lives for their soul mates. They mean as a spouse. I found mine as a teenager and we were definitely meant to spend our lives together.

There is a line in this clip from Sex and the City that Mr. Big says to Carrie’s friends that has always resonated with me:

I too think my friends are my soul mates and are men are lucky to come in after.

Even though we have been through so much together, I realized we haven’t even made a dent into our lives. There are so many firsts we still have to share together and I can't wait.

These are some of my favorites that just rushed into my mind: 

·     First time I become a published author and hand her a personally signed copy of my masterpiece.

·     First time I make her an aunt.

·     First time her son goes to school.

·     First time I see her daughter in her wedding dress.

·     First time we become grandparents.

·     First time we get thrown out of our nursing home for disturbing the peace.

I have told her this before but it bears repeating,

“You are more than my best friend. You are my sister, my family, and my insides. I don’t know what my life would be like without you in it.”

Truer words have never been spoken.

Happy 32^nd Birthday Skins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!