Settle in. This is a long one.

Some scoff at the idea that you can have more than one best friend.  And...I get it...by definition best beats all else. But, can't we all agree that different people fulfill different parts of you?  How do you decide which part of you is more worthy of fulfillment?  Most of the girls in my life I've known since I was at least 10.   For us, that means this year marks a quarter of a century that each of our lives have been intertwined.  That means something to me, so this summer I'm throwing our 25 year anniversary celebration!

Tomorrow I embark on a journey I'll make several times this year.  One of my bfs lives 218 miles away from my door to hers.  It's been 2 months since we were together and that's too long for me.  I do love that now when we see each other it's an event, but it makes me realize that when we lived in the same town I took for granted the last minute dinners out or drinks after work or the saturdays spent running errands together.  I can't count the times since she moved that I've wished I could grab a bottle of grapes & stop by after work.  Or shuffle over on a Sunday morning, still in my jammies, for coffee.  Or plan simultaneous Wednesday 'sick-days' so we could eat tomato soup & grilled cheese & watch tv together all day. 

She & I have been everything to each other.  Friends, enemies, 5th grade rivals for the same boy, badminton champs (4 years in a row), roommates, drinking buddies.  We've been each others conscience, backbone, shoulder, rock, mother, sister.  I held her hand at her parent's funeral.  She stroked my hair at my Dad's.  I stood by her side at the altar.  She gave it to me straight when I wanted to stay in a dead-end relationship.  You can't bullshit your best friend...don't even bother trying.  When she answers the phone I can tell by her "hello" if something is wrong.  The morning I called to tell her my Dad had died she told me she knew by the ring that something had happened.  We're connected.  It's that simple. 

When we're together there's always a ton of hugs & snuggles (we call them hugs & snugs).  We're annoyingly dorky that way.  But we can't help it.  We make the absolute most of every second we're together because it'll be months before it happens again.  We've stayed up talking thru the night and didn't realize it until her husband (who is amazing) came in dressed in his suit for work that morning.  (As annoyed as he was at us he still ran out for o.j. before work so we could have beermosas for breakfast.  Did I mention he was amazing?)  

Has someone ever done something so hilarious you felt like you couldn't laugh hard enough?  That was the case the year she threw a Christmas party for us girls & used Pledge on the wood floors so they would shine.  We couldn't make a move without clutching the walls, counters or table for dear life.  (The best part...when she forgot and came running down the hall & bit it right in front of us.  We laughed so hard we were literally rolling on the floor.)

I can't wait to see what the next 3 days hold for us.  But I'm going to grab a bottle of grapes and drive 4 hours in the snow to find out.  Love you, Linds.  See you soon :)