Few and Too Far In Between



My VERY first best friend ever and I. Circa 1980?

Best, close friends are something I have always found hard to find.  The summer before 7th grade, I met my first best friend, Karin.  She was my sister I never had. Even though she was about 4 inches taller than me, had cheekbones chisled out by a sculptor, beautiful long blonde hair and wore a size 0, I was sure we were long lost twins. We stayed in school together all the way through 12th grade all though we went through some major ups and downs, all thanks to a boyfriend who didn't like us being friends (she dated my first true love after he broke up with me, but to her defense, I told her I didn't care.  Okay so I lied, I did care, but that's another story)  She stayed in Richmond and went to college and I left home and went away to college.  I missed her so much and found it so hard to meet another person who could possibly know me as well as she did.  How do you share all those years together and then expect to be able to find that same friendship with someone else?  I came back home and finished up college in Richmond.  When I wasn't in my classes, I drove over to VCU where she was in school, and hung out with her between classes, or we skipped classes all together and went thrift store shopping, listened to punk rock bands, colored my hair, cried over boyfriends, you know, the stuff best buddies do.  We were in each others weddings, she is the Godmother to my first born, we have been on an amazing vacation to Belize together, she is my one person that I KNOW no matter what, she is there.  When many other friends turned their backs on me, Karin NEVER left my side and always promised there would be better days.  Through the most horrendous times of my life; my divorce and one other life changing event, she was right there, never faltered and never failed me.  NEVER judging but always helping me to see how things needed to change and what could be done different to make things better.  We have been friends for 34 years people, that's a VERY LONG TIME!!!! 


We don't live in the same town anymore, and we don't get to see each other NEARLY enough.  We don't talk much on the phone because neither of us are big on phone conversations.  But we are ALWAYS right here for each other.  I know with every inch of my heart, she is there for me if  I need her to be.  I love her more today day than I did yesterday and that love only continues to grow no matter how long it has been since I have talked to her.


Karin and I in Belize with the silly island drunk.  Circa 2001

On one of our rare girl's nights out when I make it home to Richmond.
Circa 2009

We have gotten a little older over the years, but she is still taller than me and her cheekbones still have mine beat by a mile.  We probably have the same color now, if you know what I mean, but neither one of us is ready to have that same color, hahahaha.














Karin and I the night before my wedding last year.  She may have not been in this one, but she was still my maid of honour in my heart.

A few years ago, a new girl from New Jersey, made her way into our office and applied for a job.  She got it, and in the process, God sent me a new great friend, who, here's the best part, lived 15 minutes from me!!!  She is Meghan but I call her MegPie.  She is about 20 years younger than me, but because I have been blessed with the curse of being really immature for my age, we get along just swell.  She loves to cook, I love to cook, she loves to garden, I love to garden, she loves to decorate, I love to decorate, I have no sense of fashion, she has a great sense of fashion.  We were like two peas in a pod.  She helped me plan my entire wedding last year, photographed my wedding for me, kept me calm when I was ready to murder family members at the wedding, and made sure my champagne glass was never empty, even when I was dancing in the rain at our outdoor reception at our house.  She had it all under control.  She has wiped my tears when being a mother has sometimes felt like more than my heart could take.  Helped me understand younger generations when I just couldn't figure them out.  Tells me I am an amazing person when I feel like the worst possible person on earth.  She lifts me up whenever i get close to going down. 

She and her amazingly, sweet husband Ben, did the unheard of at the beginning of this year. They moved to Georgia.  A big job advancement called for them to move far, far away.  I was crushed.  Finally I had found the friend I hadn't had since I moved from Richmond 22 years ago and she was LEAVING ME!!!  The day they brought in MegPie's replacement at work, I burst into tears the moment they told me who she was because MegPie had not yet told me Ben had taken the job.  She didn't know how to tell me, so meeting her "replacement" was a little shocking to say the least.  I did apologize by the way to Jennifer later that day for being such a baby and not welcoming her to our practice in a nice way.  She forgave me and she is a doll.  The next few weeks, I helped MegPie prepare to move, cried ALOT, drank as many bottles of wine as I could with her and promised to Skype everyday (I have not kept up that end of my deal).  Ben had already left for Georgia and MegPie and I packed the rest of their belongings in her car and she spent her last night in Virginia at my house with me and Robby.  I left for work the next morning with puffy eyes and cried the whole way in.

Well, yesterday I got a great text from my MegPie.  She was in town and wanted to meet for dinner last night.  This is me on my way to work when I got the text that she wanted a date.

Yep, I am soooo happy and I just may wreck taking a picture to prove how happy I am.

MegPie and I the night of my Wedding Rehersal.

MegPie and her adoring husband Ben.

We had an amazing dinner last night and both talked a million miles a minute.  I am not sure either one of us actually finished a sentence, but we knew what the other one was saying just the same.  It was so good seeing her again, and it was as if she hadn't really been gone for 9 months. 

After dinner last night.  She looked so stylish as usual, and I had on my scrubs from work.

Finding friends that you just really click with, who get you right from the start, that don't question who you are or judge, are so hard to find.  I have been blessed to have had two in my lifetime.  It is hard that they aren't close by anymore.  I really need girl time sometimes, especially being the mom of 4 boys and wife to a very rugged, country boy.  Some good smelling girls who like girly stuff are fun to hang out with.  

I have many "friends" but I have only two who know the real me, warts and all.  I guess that's more than some people ever have, so I am going to count my blessings and thank the Lord for the 2 gifts he put in my life; my Karin and my MegPie.  I love you girls and friends like you both, are few and too far in between.