bff

I am lucky enough to have a real and true bff.  A 'best friend forever'.

Ali and I have been friends since 7th grade.  I don't even want to think about how many years that is, but let's just say we've been friends for a very long time.  Today is her birthday and even though we are, tragically, miles and miles away from each other I find myself thinking of her and feeling pretty close.

When you meet someone in 7th grade, the worst, most awkward, meanest, year of all your years in school and they still like you, you can pretty much get through anything together.  We have.  

Eyeliner application.  Spritz Forte hairspray.  Ballet Camp.  Periods.  Boys.  Break ups.  School Dances.   Four years at Notre Dame Academy.  Denny's.  Zits.  Barbie and the Rockers.  Going to separate colleges.  Visiting each other at said colleges (although I barely remember most).  Frankie's.  Losing our virginity (mom, I swear it was my wedding night).  Sufficient Grounds. Shopping.  Road trips.  Moving to Chicago.  Moving to Seattle.  Boyfriends.  More break ups.  Husbands.  

Although we have spent most of our time in different cities it seems like we were together for all the important stuff--happy and sad.   Ali stood up for me at my wedding and was by my side when I delivered Eloise.  I held her hand until she was wheeled in for a C-Section to have Ruby and was there when she came out of surgery to meet her.  She flew in a couple weeks after Harriet arrived to help us out and see the new little one.
I remember coming home to Toledo, where both of our families are, and seeing Ali in my parents' backyard.  We walked toward each other, hugged, and then both just fell apart.  It was the saddest and most broken I had ever seen my friend.  I just wanted to put her back together but couldn't.
Her mom had died the morning before.

Our lives will always be connected.  Our families that we came from and the families that we have created will always be in each other's lives whether we are in the same town or not.  Friendship is not geographic.  Don't get me wrong.  I would love to live in the same place again and watch our kids grow up together and make fun of our husbands and go to Anthropologie on the weekends.  That is not what we got though.  We have to settle for emails, and phone calls, texts, letters, skyping and the occasional visit in person.  We survive on all the memories we have together and the possibility of what each new year will bring.
Happy Birthday, Kitty.
Love you.

a recent visit in Toledo

we did not plan the twinsie outfits

this is what friendship looks like

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