Be Fri

My oldest friend called yesterday, mainly, I think, to remind me that I have been horribly neglectful and it's been several months since we last talked. It doesn't seem to matter; we always pick up as if we just spoke last week.

When I was eight, we moved in down the road from her family. We lived in the country and between us, we had acres and acres to roam; I think we made use of almost every one of them. In the winter we gave her mother nightmares building sled runs that ended where the hill was cut away above the yard and challenged us to come to a screeching halt before we embedded ourselves in the back wall of the house. In the summer we raided the garden and built mud towns to run our Tonka trucks through.

As an only child, B and her sisters were the next best thing to having sisters of my own. Our phone calls always turn at some point to remembering all the trouble we used make (mostly for her older sister) and the fun we had. Although our lives have taken very different paths and I don't see her nearly as often as I'd like, I still feel as close to her now as I did 22 years ago. Everyone should be so lucky as to have such a wonderful friend. I love you, B!