I didn't forget

April 12th was my best friend's birthday. I didn't forget. In fact, I have a gift for her, and was going to send it- but I hate the post office here and everything about it. Since I will be able to hand deliver it soon, I decided to hang on to it.. Cause it will be that much better to get to watch her open it. It's been six long years since we have sat together, had a beer, and laughed and cried til morning.

I don't have many friends, and though it sounds cliché to say I have acquaintances, but few friends. I can count on my fingers the number of real friends I have made, on one hand the number I have kept over the course of years. In almost all our years, we have had a total of 2 fights, of which only one was serious enough to cause a schism. It lasted a few months, and we picked up where we left off, as if it never happened.

So a little about her, this fabulous woman who shares half of my soul and brain. Heather. We have been friends for... (holy shit, lemme take a breath here, over feeling OLD)... Almost 19 years. We met sophomore year in high school, and it was hate at first sight. Let's see- she had on this designer suit, complete with pantyhose and matching heels and purse. Supermodel hair do, flawless makeup on this classic Victorian face. I saw her coming, shoes first, sitting on the bench in the gym. I was in a flannel t-shirt, ripped up jeans and hair pulled into a hasty pony tail. (I didn't do mornings then,either.) As I had just recently been displaced to Vegas from Scottsdale, I was rather defensive. From what we found out later, she saw me and felt equal disdain- the tom-boy who seemed to look more through her than at her; who didn't give a shit what she or anyone else thought. It took a badminton game in PE, and an offhanded, off-color comment about the very odd teacher some weeks later to kick things off between us.

Here we are eighteen plus years later, 6000 miles apart, and still joined together. Her mother fucking HATES me with a white hot passion. I take comfort in that-and maybe will dedicate an entire post to THAT story later. :) We also share a brain, and it drives our husbands bat-shit. The four of us go out, and they see the looks going back and forth. Most of the time, "I don't even have to say it". She just knows what I am thinking, as I do her. There were many times when we would have that "thing" going on- when across town from each other, I would call her because I knew something was wrong. She'd bump her head- I'd get the headache. Actually, I can see how it would creep them out.

A few more things about Heather...

~She's a fantastic dancer. I am a great singer- She can't sing, and my dancing looks like a seizure when compared to her. We don't give as shit, and do it anyway.
~An unshakable faith in those she loves, even if it is, at times, completely undeserved.
~Class. She holds her head up, even if swimming in a river of piss and looking for a tree.
~While I am the pragmatist, she is the dreamer and hopeless romantic. It works out for both of us. She keeps me dreaming- I keep her grounded.
~She taught me "Gracious under Pressure". i.e.- tact- tell them to go to hell in a way to have them looking forward to the trip... I taught her "FTFF". (fuck the fuckin fuckers)- i.e. Be yourself and if they don't like it, that's not your problem. She softens me, I toughen her, and between us a formidable strength I would not like to come up against in someone else.
~When our husbands are dead, we are going to buy an island somewhere... maybe roll old men for their money.
~Though she comes across as fairly serious, therein lies her incredible sense of humor.
~"Does this dress look okay?".. Her... "NO! It looks like shit! Take it off!"
~She is everything I am not, and the perfect compliment of my every facet.
~She gets me. What else is there? Totally and completely... she just...gets it.

I miss her terribly, even though I can feel her with me.
I could never forget her birthday- I just want this one to be a little special, even if forced by time and distance to wait a few more weeks.