My Dear Friend

This weekend, one of my bestest friends in the world had a birthday. Since I can't be there to celebrate with her, I wanted to take the time to say THANK YOU.

You see, I really only have two friends that fit the bill for BFF. They come from two different times in my life, but both are the kind that will always be there for me no matter what. My dear friend Ash is the "known you forever friend". The one that knows way too much about me already. We met on our very first awkward day of Junior High School. You know you have a true friend when they can stick with you through that stage. She's been there for all of the embarrassments, like the time we were at EFY together and I tried to impress a really cute boy by leapfrogging over a pole - which ended up with me being horribly bruised in a place no best friend should have to see. She's been there for all of the silly times, including the time my dog fell down my overalls. She was the first friend I went to pick up when I got my first car. She's the first friend I told about my first kiss and all of my silly little crushes. She's the friend I called after I first met Brandon to tell her, "Yeah, he's really cute, but he's kind of a punk." She was the one friend that I really cared about having at my wedding. She knows all about my kids and is almost as proud of their accomplishments as I am. She's the kind of friend who loves to talk about every minute detail of the days they were born. And the entire nine months leading up to it. She's the friend who called me her Samwise Gamgee and it totally fits the bill because I'm the chubby one who can't swim. ;)

She's one of the few friends who knows how I really feel about most things. And isn't offended, freaked out or put off by it. I can talk and talk forever and know that even if she doesn't particularly care about what I'm saying, she cares. About me. Enough to be interested anyway. Enough not to remind me that I've interrupted her for the 500th time to talk about myself. And she's one of the few that I do that to because it is so nice to have someone know so much about you, and love you anyway. It's comforting to really be yourself around someone else and not feel like you're making them uncomfortable.

It was always so fun to get together because we never had to do anything. Most of the time it was a bowl of cookie dough, two spoons and us laughing our heads off over something really ridiculous like The Angry Beavers, or Good Burger. Or singing at the top of our lungs to Hercules. Now you really know she's a besty cause I don't sing!

Pretty much since high school graduation, (and maybe even before, because I went through a really awkward "I hate high school" anti-social phase my senior year) we haven't been able to spend much time together. But she's still there. We make do with emails, and once in a blessed while a phone chat. It would have been easy to lose contact and move on with life. But she's the kind of friend that you plan to live next door to someday - who doesn't forget it. She has always been there.

Who knows where life will take us from here. Maybe someday we will have a chance to do real life best friend things together again. Play dates with the kids, girls night out, or a double date with our husbands. But even if we never do again, I know that she will always be there. She will always care. It wasn't just chance that we were asked to pose for an incredibly dorky yearbook photo together that first day of Junior High so long ago. She was put in my life for a reason and I am grateful that she's done her job so well. I have learned so much from her and hope to be more like her someday.