35 Years

I want to tell you about a really special friendship that I have.





When I was 3, I went to pre-K.... yes slightly early. I went to a private school for Pre-K and Kindergarten because my mom was a teacher there. Not mine, mind you.





I met Lena there.




She took my hand and we ran to her mom and she said "Look mommy - this is MY friend".





And that's been it ever since.





We didn't live in the same town, so we didn't attend the same schools after Kindergarten. In fact she stayed in that school for a few more years before attending the public school in town.





Things chugged along nicely, we had play dates ( they didn't have a title back then), our moms were friends and my younger brother and her youngest sister were in the same classes in school, and we had birthday parties and holidays and summers to play.



This picture shows us at an early birthday party - as true to my being a Contessa - I am the one with the tiara. She is the one on the right and in the middle is OUR first boyfriend, Kyle.

Then the worst day came. When we were 10 her parents made the decision to move to Puerto Rico. Her dad had business there and her grandparents lived there so it made some sense.





I thought I would never see her again.





We wrote, snail- mail ( before email and computers), we called one another on ludicrous expensive transatlantic phone rates for 10 minutes.





When I was 12, my parents arranged for me to travel down there, alone, to see her for 2 weeks. I was going to miss school, but I would get to spend knew years and 3 kings day with her and her family. I was excited. One of my top 5 Christmas gifts ever.





We had a great time, they took me to see everything.





The summer we turned 14 she moved home. Permanently. I was excited. It never occured to me that things would change with us. And so, they didn't.





We have seen each other through everything. First beau's, first periods, new siblings, divorced parents, death of parents, marriage, divorce. Everything.





We couldn't be more different though. She is the practical logical level headed one. Cuts right to the chase and pulls no punches. She is not a game player though neither am I.





Me, I was more of the dreamer. I always lived my life through the characters in my books, stories in movies, music. You get the idea.





Today, we continue to approach situations problems from these respective styles. the family issue I had a year ago, she cut to the chase and made the incredibly valid point that I maintain as accurate to this day, I had nothing to do with the situation. therefore I can't be held accountable. It's made everyone' s life easier as it takes me out of the loop and forces the other parties to negotiate amongst themselves.





When she has had emotional situations come up in her life, I provide her wtih the emotionally thought out responses that got her to think with her feelings in addition to her heart.





She has two gorgeous children. Her baby looks so much like her at that same age that I was taken back. Her baby is 3 which is when she and I met. She is starting Pre-K in the fall.






It's 35 years later. We are still close though we live on opposite sides of the country.

Happy Birthday Lena!!!