Today isn’t just your Birthday, it’s my friends birthday, and as I lay in bed thinking about the card I didn’t send, the drink I won’t buy, the cake that will not be baked and the words I have swirling around in my head and was afraid I would not get a chance to say my feet lead me straight away to my keyboard.

It’s been 28 years (I know this because I had to pull up an old resume to verify it) and I am keenly aware at the moment that I haven’t stuck with anything else that long, but our friendship.  You’ve outlasted homes, marriages, jobs….marriages and the continual moves across the country each of us keeps making.

As I consider what goes into such longevity I know the big things account for a large percentage in such a relationship…loyalty, kindness, etc.  We’ve both seen each through a barrel full of heartache, that’s for sure.  but it’s the little things that pile up to make the mountain of memories no one else can share.

No one else but a very good friend;  Hands you a magazine back cover up because that’s the way you read them,  or notices after not seeing you in several years you have switched to a different style of bra, or even that you have a new straw in your Starbucks Cup.  It’s been a great ride and NOBODY has been in the car but us.  Thanks for being the Thelma to my Louise.

So I wish you a very happy birthday, my friend, and hope you will continue to take the journey with me as we age, even if it is long distance.

But there is one thing!  I do wish we knew then, what we know now!